Tamashii no Unmei
by Sageseeker777
Summary: A Gohan/Videl fic, chapter content subject to change after the first posting. Chapter Eight up. Official reader lure: 178 uber-positive reviews(even for ffnet;), 72,951 words, and a most excellent AU plotline...
1. Prologue

Tamashii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777

Author's Notes:

                Kay, here it goes. 3-2-1...

                This is AU, and the private wish of many. Gohan/Videl, and a new plotline, but no new enemies, really.

                Imagine this: Goku never spoke to his son after he died. At all. Gohan had to look inside himself and destroy his only limitation, doubt, completely alone. So a horrible depression follows. Soon you'll see Videl and have a reasonable explanation for her supposedly 'greater-than-frieza' strength without the muscle mass that accompanies it. She'll have to be depressed as well *wink*, but they don't really meet until highschool a few years later, where I've further altered the plotline by having Gohan leave his home for an apartment in-city at fourteen. Hey, Syaoran-kun did it at ten! And in a different country at that! 

                ChibiS: Not everybody watches CCS! 

                Sage: Well shneh! Think of all they're missing... *Hanyaaan*

                I want to continue to the Buu saga, but because of his training of Videl Gohan should be more powerful than the series. He will achieve SSJ2 for the third time when fighting Buu, and be a more-than-even match, I would think, because Piccolo said that he 'hadn't seen this kind of power since Gohan in the Cell Games' talking about Majin Veggie-chan, meaning that at age 11 SSJ2 he was more powerful than Vegeta right before he self-destructed.

                Unfortunately, with my only non-CN access being a friend twenty miles away, I'll have to rely on whatever Cartoon Network shows of the Buu sage until I can find the episode transcripts somewhere. Same goes with the exact dialogue of the Cell Games.

                I'm not your average fifteen-year-old writer, even if this is my first Dragonball fiction. Evangelion, Sailor Moon, CardCaptor Sakura, and Cowboy Bebop have always been my fancy, yet I finally return to that first love that started it all. My twelfth fic, third posted anywhere, and now I am getting angry at the length of these notes, which I don't generally write(And hope not to see in any other chapter unless I feel it is necessary for explanation or to respond to a review). Not that, in forty-five thousand pages (41mb) of saved text files of fanfiction I ever got annoyed by the author's rant...

                But this is supposed to be to inform you that WAFF Addicts Anonymous are releasing an epic that will continue until the end.

                Oh yeah, I never include a disclaimer because I operate on the assumption that netfics are never corporately sponsored. Bahtolo drom.

                Well then

                ...Let's jam.

**Prologue**

_People don't behave the way they should; they behave the way they do._

-Jim Beaubien and Karen Caesar

_We are standing in the storm of our own being._

-Michael Ventura

_"Be careful, lest in banishing your demons you banish the very best thing within you."_

-Nietzsche

                Once upon a time there was what there was, and, left untouched, it looks to shadows for it's 'ever after'. Change is a beautiful thing no matter the dark roads we traverse.

-*-

                Dark. That's what you would have seen if you had held a mirror to Gohan's soul at the moment. His tears would never be atonement, and the look in his mother's eyes could only make it grow.

                Accusation? No, not his mother, never... It must be hate. But she couldn't aim it at her son, only at herself. At least, that was what Gohan hoped. What he took on faith. Yet so much had been put in the fire to temper his faith. And he was completely sure of himself. Of his own power. Of the triumph of good over evil when so much was at stake. He had proved it even, with a useless arm and useless allies and useless actions all around, he had overcome it all alone.

                But what about the grains that fall through the cracks? What about when there wasn't all that much at stake in the battle between good and evil? Like one man. How can one be sure of anything except that destiny was a cold, cruel mistress? He'd woken to the whispering of two adults and the shocking reality he had just been through.

                His father was dead again. Gone. But for good this time, his own decision. At least, that's what Piccolo said. The silvery sounds of the instant transmission were all that Gohan could recall of that little farewell speech his father gave him. It was his fault, no matter what they would say. They just didn't want him to react the way he was now, with such fervent self-hatred.

                That was why he was leaving. He couldn't handle the tears. His own tears. And her stare. He feared what she was thinking behind it. And... his reflection. He was sure that he could destroy, destroy anything in all of goddamned existence!

                It hurt. So much so that his tears hadn't dried, just settled on the inside. His mind wouldn't allow him to weep. Not when his own father's blood was on his hands. It was an overload, so he was running away for a bit. He would probably be back, eventually. Might miss the nagging and the food and the way his mom would love him no matter what.

                Gohan hoped, dearly, that this would be what he would miss, what he would yearn to return to. What would be here when he returned? He was intelligent. He knew that this might hurt his mother as much as his father's death, but his grieving process was at a standstill. Time heals, they say. Time. He needed some time.

                "RRRRROOOOAAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!"

                A feral roar. Food deprivation, sleep deprivation, constant pain from self-inflicted wounds, combined with a month in a place where infinity becomes apparent. Released in a roar of fury.

                Piccolo had understood his need for a little time alone. He really cared. And he wouldn't cry or stare. Of course not. That was too human. Gohan was human, more or less. He wanted to be human. He hated his power that was so assured, hated himself. And that was why he had just slammed himself into the ground again: Pain. He had already broken an arm, sprained several bones, and bruises were covering a good portion of his body even with accelerated healing abilities. The edge was near.

                Once he had broached that edge he would take it to its maximum before wiping it out. Like his father had done with the tyrant Frieza. Only... He wanted to live. No death wish here. Gohan just wanted to rid himself of the power.

                And he had almost focused enough anger, raging hatred, and horrifying memories to reach what had killed his father. Enter the mind of the murderer. Pride's avatar.

                Almost...

                "Gohan!"

                A girl, older than he was now, with black hair and large, sapphire eyes, calling to him. 

                "Gohan!"

                She was about to be hurt. The rage inside seemed to coalesce like a bolt of lightning.

                "Gohan!"

                The dream seemed to be running in circles, or spirals. It was like a jumble of thought grabbed from random places at random times. The laws of gravity seemed moot and things continually changed size and shape, until it drove him to waking.

                He woke gasping. That dream again... He couldn't understand it at all most of the time, but he knew that whatever it represented caused him enough anger to reach the edge.

                Fire.

                His soul was lit with a pathos. Destiny seemed burned into it.

                Blood.

                His blood. His father's blood. The blood of his enemies. The blood of his friends.

                Death.

                Death. Death. Death. Black. Eyes. His father's eyes. Father...

                A scream.

                A cry.

                Darkness.

                Golden light.

                Power.

                The lonely sphere of light he's been living on had been silenced in the face of a greater light, a golden glow enshrouded by bolts of blue electricity.

                Gohan threw himself at the infinite expanse. It hurt a great deal, so he hurt it back.

                The door to the room of Spirit and Time was blown open. This was probably the result of being slammed into by the one-time savior of the human race at only an eighth of his might. About as strong as his father in his first transformation, perhaps.

                It hurt, being a legendary door that even the strongest can't help opening rather slowly, but pain was a moot point. Something desired and something achieved. A world of pain and painful things, of aches and screams and memories that haunted the mind like apparitions.

                Mr. Popo was shocked out of his careful botanical tenure by the bloody, ragged figure flying by. He felt he should warn Dende or Piccolo, but sighed in remembrance of Goku's voice in the sky. Gohan hadn't been conscious to hear him. A great loss indeed. To destroy such a beast and then wake up to the knowledge that your father was just gone. Piccolo had brought the boy back alone, and warned Dende that Chi-Chi might need to be watched over for a little while if she got too depressed. The Namek had hated to leave Gohan in that situation, but he had figured it was better that they had each other.

                Mr. Popo was worried that Gohan might be defeated by himself, a greater opponent than Cell could ever be.

                Crash! Crack! Ittai!

                Trees aren't the softest beds in the world, especially when you mistakenly crash into them. Especially at high velocity, and especially from sixty feet in the air.

                Gohan stumbled away from where he had hit. His thoughts were elsewhere and in his reverie he was blinded. Most of his time in the Room had been spent trying to escape all conscious thought, to hide from the truth. Now it was really hitting him upside the head with a sharp 'wa-tak'.

                Blinking away the crash, he started walking in a random direction. Twilight was falling, and darkness was creeping across the land. Gohan's brain seemed to be unable to decide which way was up at the moment, so he tried to walk with his eyes closed for a bit. Unfortunately he was in the middle of a forest, so after the first few trees hit his face he was forced to accept the dizziness. Eventually it occurred to his weary mind to sit down and try to get some rest, but he pushed himself forward. Always forward. Step after step after step. There was a river. Jump. More trees. Step, step, step.

                Ten days without sleep seemed to be too much for him, and that was how it came to be that he fell unconscious. A happy thought was that his power must be draining quickly if he couldn't do without sleep. But the other side of the coin was that no matter how powerful you are, you aren't invincible. No, he was still at just a little less than his father after his first transformation.  As Gohan fell backwards against the pine-covered base of a tree, all that he could think about was how blissfully dark the backs of his eyelids were.

-*-

                Light. Blinding bright light was streaming through the open window of Videl's bedroom on the second floor of her father's mansion.

                "Honey! Bee-bee-chan, morning's here, time to rise and meet the day!" Her mother stood there looking stunning in the light dress she'd thrown on when she'd woken up, her calf-length black hair reflecting sunlight. How did she do that? Videl groaned at the thought of leaving the comfort of her pillows.

                Her mom walked to the closet and opened it. "What shall you wear today, dear? How about... Yellow? No, that's not right. Maybe the blue one with the stripe?"

                Videl returned the smile sent her way as she climbed out of bed. She frowned. Turning to her mother she blinked, then sighed. Tears welled up in her big blue eyes as the image of her mother abruptly disappeared. More hallucinations.

                It was too much for the eleven-year-old. The accident was so long ago, but it continued to haunt her. Maybe because her father hadn't been home since the Cell Games, partying for the last thirty-six hours.

                She grabbed a training gi and took to the gym for twenty minutes. Videl knew that it had to be a lie, that a force like Cell wouldn't have been beaten by her father. Not the deadbeat who tried to drown the pain of his wife's memory in drinks and women every single night.

                He hadn't actually even spoken to her in two weeks. But at least he'd been around the house somewhere. Now she had no clue where he had gone or what he was up to, and it just tore her up inside that her father wasn't her father anymore. At the funeral... It hurt just to think about how he had hidden all his tears, turned away from his daughter when she tried to hug him.

                And now she was running in the opposite direction. The Fight was what she lived for. For the last ten years she had been training like the good daughter she was, but in the previous three it had been personal torture. Anything to forget. Yet it plagued her dreams, haunted her thoughts, and she knew that all it wanted was release, to finish grieving over what was gone. But her grip was too tight.

                School was out because of the Cell Games, but that just allowed more time for training. After warming up she took a shower and threw on some day-clothes. She left for her true workout. Anything to forget.

                But no one else could see that, the true reason. She didn't let them.

                Unfortunately she missed the note from her dad on the floor by the door, the product of a spur of the moment PR decision involving his concern for the family relationship.

                The Briefs'.

                With a yawn, Videl walked around the back of the compound to the gravity room. Before she went in she stopped by the main lab to say hello to Bulma, but politely walked out when she found her and her husband engaged in what might have been a good-morning kiss.

                As she set up the program she made a note of the amazing and unbelievable previous settings that were usually there, up to four hundred fifty times Earth's gravity.

                Her program loaded in a moment, and she began some stretches before sitting cross-legged to focus for a bit. It started at one point one Earth norm.

                Her mother had been an acquaintance of Dr. Briefs for years from his college days, and they had been close enough to attend the funeral. After that, she tried to get to know Bulma and her father, especially since she had an interest in the physics side of several projects they were performing. This gravity generator had amazed her for a while, but as she grew stronger in it, so did her understanding grow and wonder decrease.

                One point two.

                Her father had rudely insulted the good doctor several times during the course of her training here when he had come to find out what she was doing in flashes of caring sobriety. Videl knew that the Briefs' understood, but it wasn't really enough not to be completely embarrassed and ashamed. Except that Bulma's husband had told her, alone in the hallway a few minutes after one incident, that she was lucky. He'd probably kill himself if he couldn't protect her, no matter the weight of the responsibility of his child. It was heart wrenching just to think about it, he said.

                The way in which he said it made her sure that he wasn't at all normally so open. That side of him was probably what had caught Bulma's eye in the first place.

                One point four.

                And she still didn't know his name. He was at the Cell Games, however, and that made her suspect him of being the one training in the immense gravitational forces. It was inhuman, superhuman, and something she began to strive for. To be better than any human alive. Yet how in the universe was she ever going to garner enough power to shake the entire planet with an attack against someone while flying in midair?

                One point eight.

                And another thing that irked her was how her father had easily dismissed all of Earth-shattering attacks and maneuvers as tricks. When there was so much proof... Was his ego grown so big in his attempt to become a stranger who had never known Velor Satan? Who had never known his only daughter?

                Two point six.

                A one hundred thirty-pound weight had been multiplied by two point six.

                Videl's only wish was to be able to have a slim hope of matching the immense power of certain individuals whose responsibility was, it seemed, to protect the Earth.

                Three point two.

                Ouch.

                A tear slipped unbidden through her shield. Despair gripped her for a moment the weight of abandonment merged with the pain of weakness, how weak she would always be in comparison to so many others. But she shoved it away with Hope and Will, because she would get to that level, would make it beyond everything in her life at the moment.

                Four point five.

                Her limit. She tried to stand, but at five hundred eighty-five pounds she was on a roll just moving around. It had taken years to get to this point, but it beat actual weights.

                Once she was on her feet, she began to do the slower focus techniques to get used to the gravity before dropping to the floor to start some basic exercises.

                Five and a half hours later she was toweling away the sweat and looking forward to a steaming shower at home. It was already one o'clock, and she wanted to make sure she talked to Bulma before she left.

                "Bulma?"

                "Mmph!"

                Around the corner to the left, her friend was buried in a new machine. It looked like an android of some kind, but Videl was never sure.

                "Good afternoon."

                "Already? Time sure flies, eh?

                "Yeah..."

                "Have a good session?"

                "Uh-huh. Again, thanks for letting me use it."

                "What are friends for? It was nice seeing you. I must've missed you this morning or something..." She turned back to her work, mumbling to herself.

                "Bye."

                "Mf."

                As she exited, Videl followed the street around the long way to get home. It was a beautiful day, and she wanted to get to the park later to get some writing done. Then to the gym at home to spar against one of the holographic trainers. It was for technique, really, all of the different kinds of kicks and punches and whatnot.

                Her home came into view soon enough, and she stretched with a yawn as she basked in the sun. The warm day was making her sleepy. Maybe she'd just take a nap.

                As she got to the gate, however, a luxurious car screeched up to the curb at a stop that took it from sixty to zero in two seconds with the skid marks as proof.

                "Videeeeeel!" Her father's rough voice shook her out of her shock at the dangerous driving.

                "Dad?" She had only a second to question before she was pulled into the car and it took off.

                Two days in the woods. Three days! Without a shower, without any training besides simple exercises and meditation, without a change of clothes! This was disgusting and horrible and the affair was all her father's fault for making a split second decision and then telling her by using one of his personal post-it notes, which happened to be of that one brand that never sticks!

                Videl punched a tree and made a decent sized crater in it, although she hurt her fist on the rough surface. It was evening already, and the bonfire that her dad, a few of his friends, and that crowd of women had lit was done roasting the food. Now it served as the center of the party. Most already had at least two beers in them, and most couldn't handle their liquor.

                Videl was able to requisition a tent from one of the others worshipping her as the daughter of the savior of the world. Alone, away from the party, she was able to fall asleep.

                The party had lasted the night. The fire was still going, and breakfast was leftovers.

                Suddenly, someone wanted her to join in on the fun, and the center of a drunken crowd wasn't the best place to be. Videl broke through, literally, and ran off into the woods.

                A walk, she decided. She started off.

                A few hours later, she changed direction to start following the sun. She figured that later she'd turn back in the direction she came from.

                Soon, as in within an hour, she came to a brook. It was crystal clear, and being city girl hadn't dulled her appreciation of natural beauty. That was one of the reasons she enjoyed the park so much. That and the solitude.

                Following it made her lose track of time, and direction. By the time she realized what had happened dusk had fallen and the crickets began to chirp. It was getting to her, that horrible noise.

                Videl started back down the river. And it was a river by now; it had widened into one a few miles back.

                Her foot hit a rock and for all her training she couldn't help a plunge into the ice-cold depth and the force of the current that stole her away.

                She awoke in a daze, cold, hungry, and with the mother of all headaches.

                After hacking up some water, she attempted what seemed impossible: walking. Dizziness, especially in that dense a forest, wasn't a good thing. But while she bounced from tree trunk to tree trunk in lunges, she didn't actually hurt herself too badly.

                Except that she couldn't keep it up for long. Her body just gave out and she landed on her knees with a sob. She was more alone than ever, and her father probably hadn't even noticed yet! No one would notice until they were leaving, and that was if she was lucky! This was the worst thing yet!

                Her drooping eyelids caught something. A glow. A shine, really, off of golden hair. Not even blonde, but gold.

                She crawled along until she found the boy, looking so lost and sad that she felt perfectly empathetic. He was sprawled out in a pile of pine needles, coushiny enough. At least he might know a way out, Videl reasoned. And he probably makes a good pillow. She sat between his legs, and fell asleep before her head touched his shoulder, wondering at the moment why she would put so much faith in a stranger she happened upon in the woods.

                Within a few minutes his ki flared unconsciously and she felt like a warm blanket was surrounding her. She was no longer cold and wet and depressed and lost in the woods, but wrapped in the warmth and strength of someone who could probably understand her better than any other.

-*-

                Gohan woke lazily in the hour of the wolf, the darkest before dawn.

                He felt good, like there was something wonderful and right about the world and a golden glow filled him like molten gold. Then he looked down and realized that his hands were wrapped around the waist of a perfect girl. It struck him as strange that he would ever think that way, but he did without noticing it.

                She was muscular, but nothing so noticeable, yet her power was at its max. And what a max! It may not be comparable to his own even as chopped as it was, but she could have beaten Vegeta when he first arrived here. That was an amazing trait, especially in a human. Maybe she had been training for years like him. Someone who knew what it felt like to be pushed and pushed and finally to push yourself because that's all that's left to be done.

                An idea struck him. Something that was probably in his subconscious for a long time. He sized her power up and figured she had the potential to pass even Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha by a long shot. So he took the idea of the Kaioken and changed it.

                Gohan began what might be called 'feeding' her energy off of himself. He didn't want or need it, and without years of training in his own art could she ever catch up to any of the others. He felt sleepier than before, but happy that he could give something instead of just destroying further. Soon, his hair returned to the black that it hadn't been since weeks before.

                Eventually dawn rolled around. Gohan was so far gone that he had to bite his lip hard to keep himself awake. He stood and decided that the girl must be lost, so he felt around for the nearest energy sources. Once they were located, he jumped several thousand feet into the air and landed her just outside the camp. Then he pushed his power down in order to conserve it on the walk home.

                -*-

                Piccolo knew a little something about math. It was called a ratio. When you have a power of one hundred, at ten you will be exhausted. At a power of one million, one hundred would be exhausting.

                Gohan was far beyond this, he knew. His power was like a beacon in the night, and easy for Piccolo to watch over. However, his power was hitting just a little over one hundred right now, and he would be more than ready to collapse. What little of his power he'd had left was now taken from him, and while he could still do anything that someone limited to that low a power could do, his body was close to death.

                Yet... it was still there somehow. The only way to describe it was to say that it had changed color. Gohan was in a bad situation. Weariness would cloud over his thoughts until it might be too late.

                It was hard for Piccolo to grasp why Gohan might do something like this, but the answer seemed simple once it was found: Guilt. That was something that someone who had saved the world through his own suffering didn't deserve on his shoulders.

                Piccolo shot off of the tower in an effort to aid the child.

-*-

                He's awake.

                Gohan!

                A sigh.

                Why did he do this?

                Ask him.

                Poor boy... I wish he'd have come to me.

                It was hard on him. And he kept trying to turn super-saiyan in his sleep on the way over.

                When was this?

                It must have been a few hours ago. Around one.

                Terrible. And it must have hurt, him being so weak...

                Silence.

                So... have you heard the news?

                Hm?

                I'm pregnant again.

                That was nice of Goku.

                You insensitive... I ought to-

                "Wha- Mom? Huh?" Gohan could barely lift one eyelid. He just wanted more sleep...

                "I'm here, Gohan." Chi-chi held his hand.

                "I am here as well."

                "Gohan, we have a senzu bean for you to take." She lifted his chin and was going to put the bean in his mouth when he shouted a hearty 'no'.

                "I don't want it. I don't want the power."

                "You'll... die. Without your power you will die, little boy. And why don't you want it? You stopped Daddy's sacrifice from being in vain. You saved us all! What's wrong?"

                A mumbled whisper. Gohan wished he could see what was going on.

                "What did you say?" Chi-chi moved her ear closer to Gohan's mouth, close enough to see the tears he couldn't shed, and the strength with which he forcefully shut his eyelids.

                "I killed him..." A whisper only she could hear. And maybe the Namek with the big ears.

                Gohan felt her hands wrap around him. It felt nice, safe. But the memory of that girl was fresh in his mind, how safe he felt knowing that she was protected. And in comparison... But his mother's was still the love of a mother. He unclenched the fists he had unconsciously tightened.

                "It's okay, little one. You didn't do anything wrong, you did everything you possibly could have. You did what was right. Listen to your heart. You know that Daddy is proud of you, that he loves you because in the end everything was alright. And even if it hadn't been, he would have loved you still, because no matter what you would have done the best you could have done." She was rocking him back and forth gently, and his tears were finally released. But inside... Gohan felt cold inside, as though that warmth the girl had brought out was the only fire bright enough. His tears were not the tears of grief and acceptance. They were of surrender. He just let himself go in her arms, let her hold him and take all of his thoughts away for a time.

                Nothing would be the same. He was not one of them anymore, neither was he himself. 

Gohan was the person who could only be glimpsed behind the mask.

                In minutes sweet oblivion was clutching him to her breast.

-*-

                Videl was wondering if it had been a dream. The entire walk in the woods, the golden-haired boy, the whole thing.

                She had woken to find everyone packing to return home. Two-day-old leftovers were all that they had to eat, but she decided to wait. For some reason she didn't feel hungry, though she'd gone without food for more than sixteen hours.

                Her father actually talked to her on the car trip, and not about superficial things for once, like school or her day or something. He asked if she thought he had done a good job. With everything. With his dojos. With taking care of her. With saving the world.

                So she answered honestly. 'I wish you would stop acting like you can't remember mom...'

                He hugged her, something he hadn't done in three years.

                'I... not yet honey. I'm not strong enough yet.'

                'Did you really save the world?' Hopeful, her voice.

                But either he was lost in thought or he just let the silence answer for him, they spent the rest of the trip doing whatever they cared to do.

                Now she was laying on her bed, asking herself what had happened. The entire trip had a dream-like quality to it. After a steaming, long shower she had decided that it might have been a hallucination, except that around one o'clock, as she was washing clothes, she found a black hair that wasn't hers. It couldn't be her fathers, she could tell because it was thicker, not so frizzy, and not fine like hers. Also... it had flashed gold for a few seconds. Repetitively.

                So maybe the magical boy had magical hair. Videl put it into a locket she found in a tiny, generally unused jewelry box, and decided to wear it when she could.

                Maybe she would go to the gravity room later. There was plenty of time, and she hadn't done anything in a while.

                This was incredible. And strange.

                Videl had told the program that she wanted to try four point five five today, and to just lay it on her instead of waiting. It had been nothing. She raised the bar to six. Still no effort.

                She examined herself, and knew that no new muscles had suddenly toned themselves. Picking up some of the amazingly large weights, the ones that she couldn't understand were in here since they were so heavy, she found that even at six times gravity she could handle them.

                A risk, she jumped to ten. There was more pressure, and it felt like Earth normal, like this was what would keep her moving at the speed of an average eleven-year-old girl.

                So she upped it to eleven. Perfect. It was like when she had first tried this thing at one point five, since she had done running with packs full of deadweight before.

                So overnight she had gone from barely able to handle five hundred eighty five pounds, to taking fourteen hundred thirty in stride. And her spine didn't hurt at all like it sometimes did when she changed her maximum gravity.

                A knock on the door of the sphere. Now that was strange, but still not as strange as her newfound strength.

                She turned off the machine and opened the door.

                It was Bulma's husband, and he seemed to blink rapidly at her appearance.

                "I was looking for someone, and thought they were in the machine. I'm sorry for interrupting..."

                "No, that's okay. I hadn't really started yet."

                "Goodbye." He turned to leave. But he stopped. Cryptically he said, "Your power is at a max all the time. You should learn to control the gift he gave you." With that he left, leaving Videl a little disoriented.

                How had he known something strange had happened? Power? Did she have some sort of... This was a gift? From the boy in the woods, maybe? God? Wha-? She couldn't train now that she had a headache from the jumble of thoughts running through her head.

                She didn't like to take aspirin if she really didn't need it, so at home she just lay down again and tried to sleep it off.

---|=||\|


	2. Chapter 1

Tamashii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777

**Chapter One**

_There was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it._

-Orson Scott Card,

"Ender's Game"

_Truth is all in the way you perceive it._

-Akagi-sempai

_Have Faith, for the endgame has already been written..._

-Muad'Dib

"Dune"

by Robert Heinlein

                Four years.

                Gohan's most prevalent memory was of his room. Of his ceiling.

                He was staring at it now, trying to remember all of the times he found himself lost in thought with an open notebook in front of him.

                Gohan opened the notebook, admiring how with all of the thinking he had done he hadn't put a single word to page. Not that he couldn't. He could write you a twelve-page essay about the chemical content of the atmosphere offhand. He could compose a positively artful short story about a stick figure with spiky hair drawn by his little brother.

                But he really just didn't want to express his thoughts on paper.

                He could remember when he had heard that his brother was going to be born. When he had just walked out on his mother's yelling one night. Every time he had come back after taking a break to train for a few weeks. On the anniversary of his father's death. Birthdays. Holidays. Those myriad occasions when there were just too many people were over.

                It was so familiar. A warm connection to his past. All of it.

                And he was leaving it, the good and the bad, at least temporarily.

                "We can't wait to have Gohan in our school! I hope to see him on the first day." The principal was ecstatic, having seen everything Gohan had learned. Unfortunately, while he was intelligent enough, they couldn't skip him until he had at least a year of education in an official school.

                Not that there was any problem with that. That was the point. Gohan wanted to get away from his memories, wanted to make new ones. Meet new people, learn how to deal with people his own age. He was fourteen! Supposedly, he was the strongest person in the universe! But... Man, he just had to go and depress himself, ne? It was getting to be a long-standing personal joke because it happened so often.

                He'd be in the heat of things, then realize exactly what he said. And its implications. Argh. Never good to wait until after your words are spoken to think about them. Never a good thing, that.

                But school didn't start until next week. Right now they had to go into Satan City to finalize the terms of the apartment lease, and move all of Gohan's stuff into it. To this end, Chi-chi had rented a truck to take the two of them and the furniture into the city. Goten was staying with his grandfather for a few days.

                The fact that they were doing this didn't really mean that Chi-chi wholeheartedly agreed with the idea. She just thought that this might be for the best. And better for Gohan. She couldn't have ignored how distant he was. How he would never confide in her all of his amazing new ideas and little thoughts about everything. How he wouldn't come to her anymore for help with anything.

                So she wanted him to find others. To find a friend. But she had a little secret in store once they got to the apartment complex.

                Gohan sat up. His room was empty except for his bed, and that was the reason he had come up in the first place. But they had a while yet until they had to leave, and he wanted to keep what good memories this place had grown for him.

                He disassembled the bed and took the mattress down. Then the box spring. Then the frame. Slowly, for some reason. It was just so... final.

                He would be back for a lot of things! He could make it back in twenty minutes by the air. Why was it so difficult to leave the only home he'd known since childhood?

                The carving!

                He could remember the day his dad had first shown him what his name was. How Goku had held him in the air above the door as he perched on the desk with only one foot. Together they had carved it, without a word until Goku whispered "This is your name son. Live up to it."

                Live up to it. Aw geez, another depression. He might have laughed, but his mother called him from downstairs to leave.

                The city was the same as it had been a week ago when they had visited the school. Except it seemed a lot bigger to the fourteen-year-old. This was really getting to him, the fact that he'd been beyond the solar system, fought villains that could make the average man piss his pants with a casual look, and he was nervous at living alone. He could clean. He could cook, and pretty well in fact. He could certainly protect himself.

                His mom kept looking at him out of the corner of her eye. She could see his nervousness and wanted to reassure him, but he might react badly. She didn't want to leave him with that as his last memory of her in person for the next few weeks or so. Maybe more.

                But, mothers being what they are, she reached over and held his hand. To her relief he didn't pull back, but squeezed it slightly. They shared a smile.

                "Big city."

                "Yeah."

                "Can be a scary place."

                "It just doesn't make any sense..."

                Did you know that your father was afraid a lot of the time, son? Oh, always for others. He would give himself up in a heartbeat, because he made me promise to remember that he would always be by me if he was gone for good. But to wait for him if he wasn't near...

                Yet, in the dead of night, those fears would all gang up on him, strip him of his strength in his nightmares. A hug and a word, a kiss, and he would forget them completely. But he did fear, son. And new situations aren't something you can just slide into like they're nothing. Yet the great thing about you and your father, Gohan, is that you always beat the fear. So don't worry little one.

                "Don't worry, Gohan. It's just because it's so new to you. After a few days, I'm sure you'll be having the time of your life." Not on my watch, mister. But you would never go out and just abandon your responsibility, would you? No. You always accept it, even if you refuse it for a little while.

                "Yeah."

                The rest of the trip was spent in a comfortable silence. Soon, the fifteen-story-tall Moonlight Apartment Complex came into view from behind some other buildings.

                Together they walked into the admin's office. These apartments weren't owned in a chain, so instead of a supervisor they had all of the resources of the place focused on their customers.

                There were pictures all along the walls that told out a story of how the place had passed through the family until the present, each generation contributing something more. And at the desk was a man looking quite relaxed in his sharp cream-colored business suit.

                While his mother and the man made some small talk and arranged the last details of the rent, Gohan had a look around. It all seemed fairly normal, but something plagued him at the edge of his senses. He couldn't tell what it was, so he effectively tuned it out for the moment.

                "Okay, just sign here..."

                "Thank you Mr. Mashiro. I'm sure that this will be a wonderful place for my son to live."

                "We'll certainly try our best. Do you want someone to show you around this place?"

                Chi-chi and Mr. Mashiro both turned to look at Gohan. He unconsciously scratched the back of his head as he said, "Uh... sure! Thanks." He didn't like being the focus of everyone's stare.

                "Okay, then." He pressed a button on a pad sitting on his desk. "Usa will show you to your room, where the recreation area is, and how to access the City Help Desk from your room. This is the first time you've lived in the city, as I understand it. Ne?"

                "Yeah."

                "There are communication marvels that the Briefs and Satan families have sponsored for public needs. Usa will show you."

                "Thank you, sir. I'm sure we'll meet again."

                "It's my pleasure ma'am."

                They exited the office and a young woman with light brown hair was waiting for them.

                "My name is Usa. Good afternoon! Please follow me."

                She led them to the main entrance, then up a rather large staircase and then to the left. She must have already known their room number because she didn't have to ask.

                Once they reached the elevators Gohan asked why they hadn't taken the ones beneath the stairs.

                "This building is shaped like a 'v' and your apartment is the farthest to the left."

                "How many apartments are there in the building?"

                "They vary in size, but there are one hundred exactly. Currently we have eighty-two tenants, including yourself."

                "Whoa."

                "It's a big building."

                The elevator stopped on the tenth floor.

                "You're lucky. The tenth floor is the only one on which normal size apartments have balconies."

                "Cool."

                "You seem excited."

                "I am, really, I just don't show it." His voice sounded monotone, and he appeared distracted, so Chi-chi bumped him lightly with her shoulder.

                "Hm?" he whispered.

                "What's the matter?"

                "Something's weird... off. I don't know. Maybe it's just me."

                "You should pay more attention to that woman."

                "I am, mom."

                "I know you are, but you shouldn't be worrying right now."

                "I'll try not to, mom."

                Usa reached the door and turned to wait for them. She asked for the key.

                "Only the administrator has a universal key, and even then he's only allowed to use it when the police are present or, in your case, when your mother is here. You're going to be living alone in the big city! How exciting."

                Before Gohan could ask how she knew without asking, the woman opened the door and walked right in.

                Chi-chi was surprised at how roomy it was, and at the amazing view. She stepped out onto the balcony as Usa showed Gohan around.

                When she walked in, Usa was explaining the Desk to him.

                "The Desk is the main terminal program for the big computer they've got coordinating all city agencies. You can use it to call someone in-city, alert the police, file taxes, and other things. There is an internet connection, and a keyboard can pop out of here if you don't like the wallpad."

                It was really just a black glass square on the wall, until she activated it and registered it in Gohan's name. The monitor, if you could call it that, was twenty-five inches wide. The thing was amazing, and even cooler was the speed with which she flew through it. Pages whipped by until she left him at his new homepage, the internal network for the Moonlight Apartment Complex.

                She went on to explain how to access everything, login, appliances, what to do in power outages (extremely rare), and stuff like that. Then she asked if they would like someone to bring all of their stuff up.

                "No, thank-you. Gohan will get everything."

                "Are you sure? It's what they're paid to do..."

                "No, that's okay."

                "Okay..." She obviously couldn't see Gohan's muscles through his baggy t-shirt.

                "I'll leave you two, then. Call on me if you need me, the button in the bottom right corner. This floor is my responsibility, and there are two janitors who clean the floors in the hall and take trash to the big disposal on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, usually near six at night. That's what that metal bin stuck in the wall between rooms is for. It's nice to have met you."

                "Good-bye."

                "Thank-you."

                After she left, Chi-chi and Gohan went down to get the furniture. Luckily, they had plenty of spare stuff that had been left at Grandpa's house. The Ox-king also set up a bank account for Gohan so that Chi-chi wouldn't have to worry.

                "They are pretty friendly here."

                "You won't see this level of service in many places, Gohan. The trick is to keep the customers they get. It's just amazing that they do all of this. I bet they'd do your laundry if we didn't bring you a washer and dryer. The room is soundproof, too, except for the door and the windows. So your clothes-washing won't make for your neighbor the next floor down sending complaints your way."      

                "This is awesome! But that lady, Usa, she was freaking me out with how she already knew everything about the situation."

                "They probably have a big folder on all of their clients that they make the employees read. At least, the ones responsible for those clients' happy environment."

                "Yeah."

                "Are you ready for this?"

                He closed his eyes and took a breath before answering, "Yeah."

                "Back to 'yeahs', Gohan?"

                "I most certainly am, mother." He allowed her a tiny smile.

                She returned it. "So this is it?"

                "I can believe I won't wake up to your cooking anymore. Any of a hundred things like that."

                "Me neither." She sighed as they reached the car.

                Gohan didn't want her to be sad. He hoped she wouldn't miss him the way that he already missed her, even if he wasn't so quick to admit it. Fat chance, that.

                "Let's get this stuff up there."

                Gohan grabbed the couch and his mom piled most of the small things onto it.

                Chi-chi stayed in the room after the first trip, ostentatiously to arrange furniture. She did do that of course, but...

                After five trips, it was done. It might have gone faster if he had been able to just fly up there, but he didn't want to freak anyone out on his first day.

                When they were finished, they stood together at the door.

                "Is this goodbye?"            

                "Never, mom."

                She looked up at her son, who seemed so grown up, who had always risen to circumstance, who was really still just a little boy. A little boy who had never wanted to hurt anybody. There were tears in her eyes as she said, "I love you, Gohan."

                "I love you, too, mom." Chi-chi could tell that he was on the verge of tears, too, even if anyone else might have thought he had just decided to speak a tad softer than usual.

                "Oh, Gohan..." She wrapped him in a hug. He relaxed and hugged her back.

                When she looked in his eyes again, they were red and teary. "Don't worry. You'll see me every day. I'll call you."

                "What? But-" She stopped him with a finger on his lips.

                "Hush. Goodbye." She kissed him and turned to leave.

                "Bye, mom," Gohan said to the door.

                He watched after she drove away, and wondered if he had made the right decision.

                It was already five o'clock. He sat down on his bed and began putting things away. Once he had finished in his bedroom, he figured to head into the kitchen, and then relax for a while. There was television on the Desk, even if Usa hadn't shown him he was able to read entire pages no matter how fast she went. His mother probably figured that he had never watched it, so he wouldn't want to, and that was just fine with Gohan. He'd rather admire the sunset. Or something.

                But before he left his room, he found himself staring in the mirror for a while. Same haircut since his dad had first cut it this way. Same eyes, that charcoal color that wasn't black, but wasn't anything else. The kind that you can tell had a depth to them, even if it wasn't apparent on the outside. He wondered if his dad had that depth. That part he'd kept hidden, the part like the one that 'night' in the room of Spirit and Time where he had maxed out his power out of sight of his son. The cool, intelligent part that only his enemies were allowed to glimpse. And probably his wife.

                With a sigh he rose and stretched. After he got the kitchen done, he'd probably just go straight to bed.

-*-

                The first day of school.

                The first day of school!

                The _first day of __school!_

                Videl was excited and annoyed by the whole ordeal. She had needed to argue it over the phone with her father for an hour, that she wouldn't be going to that stuffy all-girls school for high school. Plus, she was going into a grade higher than normal because of what she had been taught already! It seemed that she already had eight high school credits.

                She picked out a blue skirt and a white blouse. They would match her new blue backpack.

                On the point of her father, what a liar! What a coward! He had the gall to 'inspect his empire' every six months on three-month trips. When he was around at all, he was buried beneath a pile of reporters and women. And then he had the nerve to claim that he was worried about her education?!

                It was getting ridiculous. She wouldn't be surprised if he missed her birthday again, come October.

                She grabbed a bagel for breakfast. Not too much food today, in case she felt bad or something. Normally, though, her appetite would be tremendous.

                So many things had changed since she discovered her new strength. She found her want for food increased, and she didn't gain a pound. She had to get Bulma to build gym equipment that could stand up to her strength, but then discovered it was already made. For her husband, most likely.

                Other things, too. Like how she was learning new techniques just by focusing on certain ideas that sometimes caught her attention. It was like they were already there and just needed to be remembered. And then there was the way her muscles never seemed to grow, but her actual strength did. At first it had angered her, but now it was just another oddity.

                Also there was how her emotion, which she had always been taught to keep out of a fight, just made her fight better, stronger, and faster.

                Except that there didn't seem to be a point to it sometimes. Her father was the original reason she had started, and then to escape her mother's death, just like her dad. No other fighter was any real opposition, except for the holo-simulator, which was able to match her perfectly. Although, she had never gone so far as to challenge her father. His image was too important to him.

                Yet, even if she defeated him they would say that it was because of him. Because she was his daughter. She was living in his shadow. That wasn't right, not with all of the physical torture she had put herself through.

                Videl began the trek to school.

                It was crowded. She hadn't been expecting these numbers. It was a mob. A throng. A mass of humanity.

                But at least every teacher didn't know you by name, and every kid knew enough about you to have been your best friend since you were four.

                As far as she knew, only one other girl in her class had even the slightest chance of being allowed to go to a public school. Videl was smart enough that even after four years of the worst school in the world, she would be able to make it into college. All she did besides fight nowadays was read. Once she discovered that she could move faster than normal people, she found that she could see faster. This came from her fights against holographic enemies, who were the only people she knew that could match her. And from this she discovered that she could read faster, with greater comprehension than ever before.

                And so she inhaled books. It was fun to get lost and not realize that it was three in the morning on a Sunday night.

                But once she found her first class, her day began to make a downward spiral off of the optimistic flight it had been on.

                She was in three honors classes, a foreign language, an elective that she thought might be fun, and a required course that had nothing to do with any mainstream education.

                So she sat through an hour of Chemistry.

                In the halls she noticed something strange going on that she couldn't quite place. It was strange.

                After an hour of Algebra two she had figured it out, she felt as though every boy was staring at her in the halls. This thought made her slide down a little further in her seat. She didn't feel that she was really anything special, besides her natural abilities, but it kept happening. Disgusting. Not all of them, however, just the ones who seemed like they might not care too much about women in general.

                An hour of German passed by, then lunch, and then an hour of Literature two. Around twelve something she was able to relax in Keyboarding and Business Skills, but ended the day in Health. Of all the horrible classes she'd had, mostly just because she was so far ahead, Health was the worst.

                While everything so far had just been rather boring, she found a lot of people were like animals in this class. If you weren't really quiet, then you were obnoxious and disgusting. Or neither, but then you were just ignored. There were just a few boys at the center of the pack, yet it was at their instigation that the others did anything. They had tried to feel up at least three girls, and continued to make comments about them. Nasty language spewed from their lips like a fountain. Videl found it sickening that one of those girls actually enjoyed all the attention and cheered them on. Then they turned to throwing things. The teacher had just put work on the board and taken the attendance. He sat at his desk, ignorant to everything else.

                Videl had the work done in a few minutes, and tried to read for the rest of the time since she had finished all of her other homework. Even on the first day they had piled it on.

                Her watch told her that she only had five minutes left, and she could see those boys looking at her from the corner of her eye. Not that she was worried, just that she wanted to think for a while. Her thoughts had wandered back to her father again.

                As soon as the bell rang, she was out of the room and out of the school, into the wonderful sunshine that owned the day.

                About five minutes into her leisurely walk, Videl realized what her father had done. He had left her to her own devices. He didn't care about her. He had abandoned her.

                Not that she had a harsh time of it. She had just had nowhere to run to when anything went wrong. That would always make her stronger, right?

                Quite unexpectedly, those same five or so boys from school accosted her.

                She was so deep in thought that she didn't take any notice.

                "Why hello there, sweetness."

                What could she do? How could she make him see? Or would he never see?

                "How are you today?"

                "I saw you readin' in class. Do you like to read?"

                Videl decided that she would just keep on the way she had. Today she had found that a lot of guys were ogling perverts. Tomorrow she would wear some baggy clothes and some nice shorts. If a guy liked her, let him try to see who she really was.

                "That's a pretty dress you're wearing. Can I see what it's made of?"

                Blinking, Videl found herself in the middle of a group of guys on a testosterone high pulling the tough-guy act. She didn't need this at the moment.

                Then one of them lunged at her and almost planted a big, wet kiss on her mouth. He had intended to slam her against the brick wall she was next to. They were trying to hurt her? These bastards were ganging up on a defenseless little girl, and what reason might be behind that? She felt like throwing up.

                And then there was the fact that they couldn't recognize someone from the family who the city had been renamed for. With all the times Hercule had gotten her on television, they must have just been unafraid of authority and public hatred.

                Before any of the others in the group could try something, she was already a block away, running at speeds they could only imagine hitting on their own two feet.

                Videl felt... Dirty. They had seriously tried to hurt her, and not just in the sense of a good fight. But soon those feelings that were close to shame, but not strong enough to break her self-esteem turned to a seething rage. This was what her father had done! Whenever he needed to act the caring parent, he had used her. Used her like the daughter she was. And then he just threw her away. That was the way those boys thought about women. No, girls rather. Girls they thought were small enough that they thought they could muscle into doing whatever the hell they wanted.

                Only she hadn't done anything. Nothing! What a show of weakness! Unless they were seriously hurt, they would think her a target. Maybe tomorrow she would do something about that.

                Except that she wanted to hurt something _now._

                One punching bag flew into the wall right after another. The little flying ball she used to practice speed was destroyed ten times faster than usual. She entered the simulator and ordered it to twenty levels beyond what she normally trained at, expecting to get the anger beaten out of her in a good fight. Unfortunately, she was beyond angry. The machine failed to keep up with her and ended up being defeated.

                Now Videl was just angry that she was angry, and it began to cancel itself out. It fizzled. She took a shower, then she lay down on her bed and stared at her ceiling. This would have to change. She didn't want to have to deal with lowlifes at all, didn't want a reputation for her strength like only those on the fighting circuit knew about, attested to by wall after wall of trophy and medal downstairs. Useless things, it was like proving you could beat up a child. Although the opposite had happened in most cases. A mere child beating masters of the arts.

                So she would just be... unattractive? That would deal with most of the guys in school, so that she didn't have to around after school every day and beat someone up. She would start by doing her hair in pigtails and wearing the baggy shirts she'd decided on before. 

                On other matters, she would have to find a tutor if she wanted to stay as sharp and ahead of everyone as she was. Her brain might rot if all she did was stuff that didn't challenge her. And maybe she would try to find some club or sport or something to keep her occupied. She doubted it, though. There wasn't too much that interested her outside writing and fighting.

                Videl decided that she would squeeze some time in at the gravity machine after she finished that book.

-*-

                Gohan had a bad day.

                To start, it had begun with his mother waking him up. That wonderful surprise of hers had been that not only did she get a Desk and get herself added to the city directory, she had Bulma hack Gohan's so that she could call at any time and not have to wait for him to answer.

                Then he had to pick his clothes from the ones he had bought, only his mom had put his somewhere and all of the ones in his closet turned out to be ones she had picked out. It took a while to find them, and he could barely get showered and dressed before he had to leave, which left him without breakfast.

                After that, he had this weird anxiety from all of the people, like a nervous paranoia, almost. It left him soon, but he felt out of place for the entire day. And his class schedule had been screwed up, so he had to run fast to make it to them all, checking with every one of his teachers.

                Beyond this fact was that he was able to ace these classes. If only they had applied the previous year... But even then, residents were selected over people from other districts, and he hadn't taken up residence until the last week.

                Literature, Science, Geometry, Keyboarding and Business Skills, Health, and German. He already had about three languages down so that he could understand the rudiments, and his mom had thrown a bunch of German at him when they decided to go to school here.

                Another strike against him was when he figured out that he wouldn't see any of the same people in any class. He was in three advanced placement courses, the highest he could go in ninth grade, and there just wasn't anyone who had qualified for all three. The others were electives, and the only person to share even two classes happened to be in his Health class as well as his Keyboarding class. And the guy hadn't even tried to say a word because he was surrounded by friends from other classes.

                Next year he wanted to just skip to eleventh grade and take the honors courses. He didn't know if he was prepared to take that grade's classes, but they would be less hard than the AP of the same kind. Maybe he would take summer school to get all the credits in before the next school year started. It wasn't like he had plans, or needed a job with his family's excess wealth.

                Lunch was probably the worst part of the day, because they would only give him a tiny portion like everyone else, and he didn't want argue with anybody. But it was like eating a single gummy bear for breakfast; it did nothing. Plus, the cafeteria food was unhealthy.

                Right now it was after school and he was enjoying the sunshine. As he walked behind a girl with long and beautiful black hair walk in front of him, it dawned in his mind what had been bothering him for the last week. The girl whose potential he had released three and a half years before was that girl! The one who had felt so wonderful in his arms. Here she was. And her power had almost doubled! She knew what she was doing, apparently. Except that she didn't know how to suppress her power. Or probably use energy, either.

                Before he could say anything, a gang of thugs from the school started walking all around her. Gohan thought she might know them somehow, although he doubted it, but he stood back anyways. Or rather, he ran ahead and stood in front of the brewing confrontation.

                From a distance he could see a look in her eyes that said she was somewhere far away. When they got her so that she was cornered near a brick wall, she took notice of them. One made a lunge at her that she dodged, but she was gone before they could blink.

                Gohan figured that she just didn't have the time to be messing with these guys, but either she didn't know or she didn't think through the fact that they would continue messing with her for a while unless they didn't want to. He decided to make them not want to.

                Walking over casually, he inquired, "What were you guys trying to do to that girl?"

                "What's it to ya, short stuff?"

                "Yeah, wimp, you wanna pick a fight?" They were probably angry as a group that the object of their desire had escaped. Now they had to find another target for their aggression.

                "What did you do to that girl?" Gohan was unfazed.

                "It's none of your business!" said another.

                In a flash of gold they were all thrown to the ground. Gohan struck a few key places that guaranteed they'd be hurting for a week. In addition to bad headaches from their cement pillows. He had only trained for about the equivalent of a month for each of the last three years, and that one near-death experience had raised the bar, but he figured he'd have to train his base level up. Maybe Bulma could help him, and she owed it to him after she had 'helped' his mother.

                He felt for the power again. It seemed that she was angry now, and her energy was flaring. It was strangely reminiscent of a Saiyan.

                Gohan was glad that he had found the source of his off feeling. It seemed that her power was just like his, but... more blue. Or purplish. It was hard to describe the way a person _feels; it was just that everyone was different in their own way. Some that he could tell offhand were Piccolo, his father, and Krillin._

                If his father were ever to come back, unless he was totally preoccupied at the time, he felt that he would know it.

                Except that he wouldn't be coming back. Argh, another depression.

                Gohan stared into the sunset.

                From his vantage point, he could see clear across the city in one direction, and that happened to be West. It was amazing, and once he'd found it on his third day he had made sure to catch it every night.

                Maybe he would take up art. It was hard for him to draw at all, but a warrior's precision had to be good for something besides battle. And it was just so beautiful...

                Every day was different, and the clouds always changed their pattern. Hues of purple, red, violet, pink, blue, gray blue, sky blue, cerulean, just so many that it made for a sight to behold.

                He sighed and went in after the sun was gone. His mom had made him promise to call during the first few days, then stay in semi-constant contact after that. Or else she would wake him up every single morning for the rest of his school life. She probably planned to anyways.

                So he had, after school, but didn't tell her about how horribly off his day had been. Just that he wanted to bring his own lunch and maybe go to summer school to skip next year.

                Now he just read for a while, until it was late enough that he could just fall right to sleep.

-*-

                Videl's night was serene.

                School the next day didn't seem as bad as it had, just the memory of a place where she was free to wear a mask like everyone else. It wouldn't be much different than normal, where only she knew herself.

                Her trains of thought had ended on a stretch of unfinished track, and she was left in silence, until she picked up a pen and started writing. A few hours later, she figured she would type it up using the keyboarding skills she was going to learn in class. It would go faster than if she had to 'hunt and peck'.

                It was late, so she turned in for the night. She couldn't sleep, however, and her mind just ran in circles wondering about everything new she had encountered and hadn't yet thought or cared enough about to face. It wore her down enough that she fell into a dreamless sleep.

---|=||\|


	3. Chapter 2

Tamashii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777****

Author's Notes:

                Argh! I had this done on Wednesday, but I rely on the library for internet, so here it is on Friday from my friend's house. Damn the library for being closed, and damn my friend for not letting me release chapters two and three at the same time.

                To all my reviewers, thank-you. I wish I could write faster, but I'm trying to make sure I have no plot holes and keep mostly IC. Three to four days to a chapter is a fairly decent timeframe, ne? Especially in comparison to some others, but I don't really care to be compared. I plan on taking this all the way to the end no matter what, so don't worry about that. I'm not sure how long I can keep going at three days to a chapter, but chapter three is already half-done.

                Anyone who cares to may host this thing, just tell me so I can explore your archive. My addy is in my profile. If you want me to tell you when I plan to have chapters out or any of the mostly indefinite info on future chapters, just mail me.

Also, 'tamashii no unmei' means 'My soul's destiny'. What I do is look at all of my lyrics and try to pick out certain phrases that I can understand- then I put them together. The title came from 'My Soul's Refrain' and 'Cruel Angel's Thesis'.

To all who enjoy sweet PWP WAFF, the reason I make it so dark is because I want them to find solace only in each other, *wink*.

                I've gotten several mails. Apparently, some are wondering what exactly happen to Videl's power in the prologue. Well, like the eldest Namek, Gohan was able to release Videl's potential power. Except that he did it by giving her his own strength.

                I figure that the higher your power, the easier it is to gain more power, since it wouldn't be efficient if you only raised yourself one hundred points a day when your max is twenty million, and that's how I plan on making her one of the strongest Z senshi.

                Before I reach the Buu saga there will be a point where Videl gets another jump, but because the potential has already been achieved, and training is the only way up now, it will be rather painful. No morespoilers for you!

                Besides all this, I'd say she was about the level of the androids from mirai trunks' timeline now. By the time Buu gets here there will be lots of enemies on the way, maybe the room of S&T, and the four years until that point (Gohan was eighteen, remember? Eleven plus seven more years...). Please don't bug me about how Goku was able to train in one hundred times gravity before he reached SS and how even though Videl's stronger she isn't past fifty-five. Remember her minimal muscle growth and the fact that she _is _still human, no matter how many Saiyan characteristics she's adopted.

                Lastly, there was someone who mailed me to say that he was wondering if Gohan went SSJ3, whether Videl was living at Bulma's, and if that was the case, then were they going to meet through Bulma?

                This is just an example of how horribly unclear my writing is. I'll have to work on it.****

**Chapter Two**__

_"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent"_

-Asimov

_"Why," said he, "they are men who hired working-girls, and paid 'em' five or six dollars a week to live on. Are you one of the bunch?"_

_"Not on your immortality," said I. "I'm only a fellow that set fire to an orphan asylum, and murdered a blind man for his pennies."_

-O. Henry

_"It isn't evil you're defeating. The ones that you defeated are the epitomy of evil."_

-Master Long

                October brought the beautiful fall colors into wonderful bloom, evidenced by the oak and ash trees lining most city thoroughfares. Yellow and red and orange and brown, a swirl of color to comfort those rushing home to get out of the cold. The temperature was already dropping this early in the year.

                Today happened to be the eighteenth. Videl's birthday morning was spent traipsing around the house in what she had worn to bed the previous night.

                Her father had graciously left an envelope with her name on it in plain sight; inside was two hundred dollars. However, in his rush to find her a present he'd forgotten that last year he had set up an unlimited expense account for her. Plus, he probably thought that she wouldn't recognize one of the envelopes his accountants use for bills.

                But at least he had remembered, right?

                Videl sighed.

                Nowadays, everything was simply... breezy. She had gone to school looking far less attractive and far less noticeable. On the second day she was pleased to find that those punks hadn't come into school. Then they didn't come in the third day. Or the fourth. A few weeks later one of them did, and towards her he was way quieter than he had been. But she still kept the style because of the perverted eyes she knew were out there. Pigtails and baggy clothes. Icky.

                Nothing else changed, really. School passed the time between books and training sessions. One teacher had understood the quality of her work and asked her to do an extra credit fiction work. This led her into writing more in her spare time. Eventually she started carrying a tiny notebook around with her to jot down the random ideas that came to mind.

                So here she was, traipsing, wandering around her huge home humming some forgotten tune.

                Eventually the day just became too inviting and she got showered and dressed to spend the cash somewhere in the city. Maybe she would go to the park and write something about autumn, something about how nice it is to take a stroll in the nippy weather.

                By the time noon rolled around, she was eighty bucks lighter and had seven books in a bag. Home wasn't too far away, so she dropped off her parcel and began the trip to the park.

                Soon she got bored, though. Videl wanted to do something different today. The park 

was more boring than school at the moment. Even the city itself wasn't too lively, and had an exceptionally low crime rate. Too many old people moving in, probably. Although, there was that noticeable jump in the number of muggings recently. It had started in some other city a month ago and spread to three others, Satan City included. People wake up afterwards without the strength to even get up, and the ones the coroners had to examine always had a tiny puncture mark with an 'M' logo. They had shown it in the paper, a big black thing with spidery curves. Strange. But Videl trusted that she could take care of herself. Besides, the numbers had only gone up on the ones that occurred after dark.

                Then, she had an idea. It took a few minutes to find a train to the outer part of the city, but she was aboard as soon as it arrived. Videl wanted to do some exploring on her official day off from everything, since she had never been too far from her home near the center if the city.

                This was fun!

                Here she was, swathed in some clean overclothes that were probably intended for the poor and homeless, just because it made a great disguise. No one would ask if she should be in school or something, anyway. Videl had been walking around and an inconspicuous street corner had caught her eye. It interested her for a while as she made up fantastical pasts for the passersby, but now she was on the trail of a boy who had one of those 'M's' tattooed on his forehead.

                It wasn't her problem, but she figured on giving the police a hand with her above average abilities. So far, Videl had tracked him across the southeast district and all the way to an alley on the edge of the middle district, where her home was.

                Before he did whatever he was planning on doing, he looked around carefully, ignorant of the little rag-girl with her eyes downcast near the mouth of the alleyway. Then the guy moved a dumpster forward and was gone.

                Videl's eyes swept the sidestreet and the windows above it. There was a presumably abandoned warehouse on one side and an unidentifiable brick wall on the other. No one was watching. The street outside was empty, and there was no one else in the sight.

                She was worried that this might just be a small place, or that he might come out any second now, but it was all or nothing at the moment. He could have even been onto her and be tricking her into revealing herself.

                Well, that was too bad. She found herself in a black tunnel moments later, and started to follow it at faster-than-normal speeds until a light in the distance signaled deceleration. It was a pallid light, one designed obviously for those who don't normally encounter such things. The kind that wouldn't hurt the eyes but might make you feel like you were in a bad horror flick.

                Her sharp eyes could see that there was a crowd of people filling the entrance the light was shining from. She decided to blend in. There was wailing and moaning to some unseen force, as though these people had chosen a deity to worship. They smelt like garbage and feces, and their clothes were far worse than the ones Videl had casually picked up. It made her feel a little guilty, but if they wanted the clothes, they could just go up and take them.

                Videl was so far affected only on the level of being amazed at what these people were doing, until she realized that they were all children, somewhere between ten and twenty, and the level rose to "weirded out."

                She knew, positively knew that whatever the object of their worship was it wouldn't be pretty or very kind to strangers. This could get ugly. But she could take them, right?

                Suddenly a platform appeared, and it hovered slightly in front of the pack of 'worshipers' who turned from wailing to an animalistic rage. They were jumping up and down, screaming and howling, calling out to the man on the platform. He must have been older than everyone in the group hiding Videl, but really he was just a kid himself.

                And it was the guy she had chased here. If he was so high in this hierarchy, how had he led someone right into the den? Unless he wasn't. That meant that this sort of thing barely scratched the surface. She'd find out, one way or another.

                It as though a megaphone enhanced his voice. "Greetings from your new lord and master, who will raise you up from the filthy fringe of humanity, and bring you with him on his rise to glory!"

                The guy really knew how to work an audience; even Videl was feeling as though she wanted to start chanting. It was probably mind control of some sort.

                "Join us, release to the great Babidi," his voice boomed like thunder as he reverently spoke the name, "all of the pain you've ever felt, release the dark so that you will be free! Bow down to him now, praise him as lord and you shall be raised up!" In his right hand was an orb. He raised it so that the unholy green glow from within could shine on the bunch.

                'And the crowd roared'. It was a horrible noise, like the laughing of hyenas mixed with the howling of wolves.

                One and all they bowed down in their worship, leaving Videl the lone person still standing. She could admit to feeling the incredible urge to kneel, but fought it with all her will.

                The man hissed, and the crowd followed. "An infiltrator! Get him!" His mistake made Videl later appreciate the uses of the genderless clothing she had taken.

                She noticed in the pale light that 'M's' were now inscribed on the foreheads of these pathetic examples of life. With hollow eyes, sunken cheeks, and empty stomachs they attacked her. The whole mob must have been two hundred something strong and they quickly swarmed Videl with more strength than they could ever really have. She lost her footing and began drowning in the sea of despairing souls.

                Releasing a roar of anger she burst from the crowd sending a dozen people flying. The man on the platform was still there, but he was talking to himself. Or rather, to the orb that he had been presenting. She couldn't make out the words, but he turned around to make good his escape. His job was done, apparently.

                Videl decided that he was the only person who could lead her to the source of this disgusting mess, or at least the next level up. She broke through the crowd and hit a speed she probably hadn't ever reached before jumping with all of her considerable strength. She landed so that her fingers were gripping the lip of his floating pedestal, which was still rushing along at around fifty miles per hour.

                The man turned and shouted something before attempting to grind her fingers off with his heel. However, before he could take a single step she was already on the platform and had him by his neck. She raised him into the air and in his surprise he dropped his little orb. Videl witnessed the shock written all over his face as four mini-explosions echoed the one that announced the destruction of his tool. Maybe he would be in trouble with his 'lord and master'.

                Videl smacked the control panel with a free hand, crushing most of the controls. They descended rapidly and she lost her grip on one of the bounces. Her prisoner seemed ignorant to the harsh pain of impact and escaped into the shadows without her. A few seconds later and he would be gone; Videl knew that she had to act. She stamped the obsolete flying device with one of her feet, causing it to slam against the floor and bounce up, rebounding off the wall in the direction of the escapee.

                Videl jumped and began to run. Eventually she found herself in the sewers where light shined from above at intervals of thirty feet or so. She could just barely make out the figure of her prey, and hurried to catch up to him. Soon, she was upon him, and she slammed him into the wall of the tunnel as she screamed, "Who the hell are you and what are you doing to those kids?!"

                All she could get out of him was stuttering, so she rephrased the question in a way that was a tad more friendly. Videl was hoping that she wouldn't have to deal with the crowd again, so she decided to keep her voice a little lower.

                "Who is Babidi?"

                "My master! Babidi is the only master!"

                Videl smirked. Her first interrogation was going somewhere.

                "What did you do to those kids back there?"

                "I showed them the wisdom of Babidi!"

                "Why?!"

                "So that they may serve him for the rest of their lives! They will lounge in the comfort of the house of our lord!"

                It sounded mostly rote. Maybe they pounded propaganda into the heads of these people.

                "How long have you been serving him?"

                "A full month!" He grinned stupidly. He sounded proud, and his eagle-like features reflected it.

                "What have you done for Babidi so far?"

                "I was taking the light from the blind, until I took command of my pack and Babidi promoted me for it! He raised me from the filthy fringe of humanity like he promised. I am one of his own." 

                "Where is your pack?"

                "Southeast Thirty-fourth Street..." He began to look tired. The man seemed to be dying before her eyes. Videl threw him away and jumped back when he started to turn brown and just... decay before her eyes. Dust was all that remained, and it made her wonder, contrary to her memory, if he had at all. Except that there were those scribbles in her notebook she had just made: "Babidi," and "SE 34th."

                She knew where she had to go and what she had to do. She couldn't go to the police without proof, so she had to find it on her own. And maybe stop what parts of this cult crime ring that she could. Not that she wanted to play hero, but her sense of responsibility said that her distinct physical advantage might play a key difference, and she had to use it.

-*-

                Gohan had heard and seen others whose parents had allowed them to skip school on their birthdays. He honestly didn't want to. Hadn't wanted to. There was no need, because he was a kind of boring guy who led a rather boring life.

                Except that he got sick. Not too sick, just to the point where he didn't want to crawl out of bed and go to school. Why not stay here? And the perfect excuse: it was his birthday! October twenty-first, like it had been for the last fifteen years, with the exception of those parts where time was less than relativistic.

                His mother and brother called to wish him a happy birthday. Him mom could tell right away that he was sick, and told him to stay home and get some rest.

                "And relax, Gohan. Have a nice day off. I love you, call soon!"

                That was nice Gohan lay down on the couch for a bit, telling the Desk to switch to one of the music channels he'd programmed in. Oh, joy, a bit of soft rock. Blues. Whatever.

                Eventually he decided that a shower might make him feel better, and it did give him a boost of energy. He decided to go to the store for some headache medicine, and maybe some of that stuff that helps coughs, just in case.

                It was a nice day, if a bit drab. Gray skies. Overcast. A chance of rain. Gohan walked along the street admiring the beauty of the trees. It was a lovely contrast, the trees to the sky. He always loved the autumn colors, but it hadn't gotten this cold at home in any of the winters he had experienced. At least, so early in the year. And it never lasted all that long. Gohan sighed and smiled softly. It was that kind of day.

                The cashier smiled as she handed him back his medicine in a bag.

                "Sick?"

                "Yeah." He covered his mouth as he yawned.

                "Tired too, eh?"

                "Ugh."

                "You have a nice day, you hear? Get some sleep. Get better soon!"

                "Thanks. Bye." He smiled and gave a little half-hearted wave as he exited, still holding his wallet in his hand.

                That was nice. It was good to know there were such thoughtful people out there. Especially when he had encountered some of the most un-good beings out there.

                Smack! Gohan was caught unawares and found himself on his back, staring confusedly at the bleak sky. Blinking, he got up to find the woman from the store at his side.

                "Are you okay?" she asked.

                "I'm fine... What hit me?"

                "That boy, up there, and he got your wallet! Look," she pointed, "See, he's still running. Maybe you can catch him!"

                He smirked. "I'm sure I can. Thanks again." and in a flash of his ki, he was running towards the kid like a beastie out of the Pit. His sickness was mostly forgotten, as was the medicine clutched tightly in his left hand.      

                The kid looked turned to look back for a second, and must have recognized a ki flare for what it was because he lit his own and burned faster than Gohan could see. It was as though he was drawing from a source of energy that wasn't his own, because the kid's actual power was just a little higher than Earth normal.

                Gohan got an idea and shot straight up into the air, completely enveloped in the quest for the stolen wallet. This was like playing hide-and-go-seek with Goten, who wouldn't be able to fly for a while yet. It wasn't really cheating, just using all of your pieces in the game.

                The boy thought that he'd lost Gohan, and didn't slow, just became a little less wary. Stopped looking around so much and seemed to be on autopilot. Gohan watched him navigate the streets like a maze in a vain effort to evade what pursuers he might still have. It ended in an alleyway, where the boy moved a dumpster and hopped down a hole.

                Like the white rabbit, Gohan mused. What am I getting myself into?

                He launched himself towards the alley that the kid had disappeared in. It looked undisturbed, but Gohan moved the dumpster and looked in. It was like a slide, and he didn't want to be caught unawares again, so he dived in headfirst. The hole soon was a steel-plated tube that slid down and down until it reached a room full of people. Gohan stayed in the air and moved along the ceiling until he found a niche along the back wall that seemed completely inaccessible. There was likely a ladder that was used to get up here. Unless you could fly, like he suspected most of these guys knew how to do, if that punk thief was any example.

                He peered over the lip of the 'balcony'. There were maybe thirty or forty guys, all rather young, all with decently high power levels themselves, even without an outside force. And they all had 'M's' on their forehead, like that one report in the paper... He spotted the thief and decided that since it was only cash he wouldn't worry about it. A bigger fish was right in front of him.

                Light emanated from a white screen maybe forty feet long by twenty feet high. The crowd was talking among itself, and Gohan's interest was piqued because there was something here... It was something that was just on the edge of his senses. Like that girl's energy. He had tried to sense her at school, and knew that she was there, but because her energy was so like his own for some reason, he had trouble. It was like trying to see yourself when your self keeps telling you that 'you are here'.

                Suddenly, the screen exploded in a flash of color and sound, and every person in the room but two quickly bowed at the waist towards the screen. Both remained unnoticed

                A squat, orange creature was sitting on a throne, holding a staff. He began to speak. The large blue creature behind him stood at attention like a good lieutenant.

                "I have gathered you here, my greatest warriors- so far- from Satan City, because you are being hunted. In the last three days we have found that four gangs have been disbanded by the actions of a single person. Whoever it is, they must be stopped! With utmost haste! Now, I say!" Spittle rained from his mouth as he screamed in a tantrum, and his whiskers jiggled.

                Someone, presumably the speaker for this entire group, said, "Lord, we are trying as hard as we can. You know all that we know, and of course far more. With the knowledge that your strength is behind us, we shall prevail."

                The creature reveled in its ego waxing, yet shouted, "I know that! But I am telling you to be on higher alert, be more careful, more watchful. Now, you sent word that all of your energy lamps are full, so here are the directions for your first dump. This will progress my plans to the next phase, you know. No other city has been able to fill even an eighth of their lamps yet. It must be because of all those dojos. But... No, we should wait. If you go to the same place as last time you will find more lamps for yourselves."

                The orange thing raised his hand and muttered something that might have been 'fools', but ritually said, "My power go with you."

                Gohan heard then, for the first time, the name of this uncloaked enemy. "Hail, lord Babidi!" And just as suddenly as this knowledge came to him, all hell broke loose.

-*-

                This was going almost as good as Videl had hoped.

                She hadn't gone to school in three days, but she had taken about twelve hours or more each day to track down these groups. Maybe if she got enough they'd be scared away.

                Except now they had revealed to her the strongest warriors they had, if this gaggle of scum could be called 'warriors'.

                It was enough to make her want to laugh, that her ability had finally made a difference in something. And here it would mean all that much more.

                When Babidi's picture began speaking, she tried once again to put it all together in her head. They were controlling street kids to control other street kids to gather energy for what? What energy could they be talking about, the soul's?

                As soon as Babidi shut up, she took a rock out of her pocket and hurled it at the screen with all her strength. The thing cracked, and cut off the picture. Everyone in the room started to go nuts, and the speaker for the group hit a box on the wall that Babidi said to hit if something like this were to happen.

                Videl began fighting her way through the group, but it was harder than ever before. Even with all her strength, even though some of her blows completely twisted heads around, bodies in half, and whatnot, they kept coming. And some had weapons that were unseen until this point. Staves, bludgeons, and those things she had come to know as 'lamps'. Soon, they had encircled her, and she was trapped with this one other guy, apparently the strongest of the bunch.

                Videl jumped towards him with a flurry of attacks, yet the upper half of his body rebounded and he dodged to the left before striking her back at the ground. His face was messed up, but she could make out the sneer of his lips in the emergency lights. This disfigured man came at her with an attack intent on cracking her neck, but just before it could strike and just before Videl could move with a speed they didn't know, she found a warmth rather close to her for a single second. Looking up, she found a golden-haired warrior glowing with his own light. This surprised her, and her hand went straight for her locket. Opening it, she found that the black hair had turned gold and was glowing as well.

                So this was the guy. Like a guardian angel, almost.

                He was blocking the elbow with a forearm. Quickly, he jabbed his knee into the man's gut and began tormenting his opponent's kidneys with fists of iron. Blood dripped from the side of the poor guy's mouth. Seeing that he had it under control, Videl began to take out the crowd one by one, making sure each guy was down for sure before moving on. These people were able to get up sometimes after assuredly crippling blows unless they were dead or knocked out and unable to function. And those weapons were a doozy to keep away from in the right hands.

                With a pile of fighters surrounding her, Videl struck out at the lone guy standing in the center of the circle. Her roundhouse seemed to loose a wave of energy that blew the bodies of the downed men away. Safe to say it struck solidly. So far, every one of her blows she had ever landed, as expected, had been taken with the amount of resistance one would think would result. They would fly into a wall, or get hurt really bad or something. Even these half-dead zombies who could take any pain were still knocked away and hurt, they just came back for more. So it was surprising to her to find that she couldn't break through this guy's defense in a single kick. Looking down the length of her leg, still held against a blocking forearm, she realized that it might have something to do with the glowing gold hair. 

-*-

                Gohan just stood there watching her.

                Videl just stood there watching Gohan.

                "They'll be back, and in stronger numbers, if they've come this far."

                "They should know that they won't be here for long."

                "They'll be stronger, too. Whatever was raising those kids' power so high can make them go higher. It's probably dependant on the person."

                "Maybe."

                "Surely. And you should have waited. We might have found where that little orange guy, Babidi? Where that place he was talking about is. And maybe get to him. Cut off the head and maybe all of these extensions of the head will just drop."

                If Videl cared about the reprimand, she didn't show it. But she nodded in understanding.

                All of her questions had been forgotten when she looked into his blue eyes.

                "Good-bye."

                Before Gohan could ask her name or anything about herself, she was gone, and he was having just as much trouble sensing her as before.

                Looking around, he found that all of their enemies were gone, and there was a significant amount of dust on the floor.

                He powered down and headed home.

-*-

                Videl was feeling floaty. She had actually met the man of her dreams. Literally.

                Until this point she had only a single hair that was any claim to his existence. Now she knew that he did.

                It was a nice feeling. She sank lower into the tub and sighed air bubbles. The bubble bath she had used was nice, and the cushiony lining of the extra large tub made for a nice headrest. Altogether, a relaxing bath.

                It couldn't completely get rid of bad thoughts, however, and she continually wondered what had happened to those guys after they were taken out. There wasn't enough time to look around in the dim light. She hadn't been able to go to the police so far because on some the 'M' just disappeared, while others faded away, and yet others just slinked into the cracks nursing their wounds, not planning on ever coming out to play again.

                These guys might come back if they didn't go to prison. And she couldn't count on gold-boy to do that for her. Unfortunately, by the time she realized this it was too late, and they would have had enough time to get out.

                Tomorrow she would watch the news for something about that. If they were still out there, she might have to waste a perfectly good Saturday.

-*-

                Gohan was happy that he had done something positive.

                It had all been chance, really, but he felt that this was the start of something new. City protector or something. Maybe. Just against evil monsters that liked to take over the minds of children, or something like that.

                And that girl. After all this, he still didn't know her name or anything about her except that she went to Orange Star High School. And had black hair. And eyes of just the most beautiful color blue... He could probably look for her in the school database, but it probably wasn't allowed.

                So he would keep living life the way he had, and be on the watch for more life-sucking teenagers. And for a girl whose beauty surpassed all others. In his humble opinion anyways. Maybe it had something to do with the air of mystery surrounding their whole relationship. They meet in the woods when they're eleven, then again in the basement lair of the city's gang-lords after defeating all the bad guys.

                He called his mother and told her about his day. She asked him to come back home for the weekend so they could celebrate his birthday.

                "Of course," he said.

                She smiled and replied, "We'll be waiting."

-*-

                Somewhere deep in the mountains there lay a mysterious cabin. This cabin is actually the entrance to a rather strangely designed starship capable of taking the life energy of any being who fought within its walls.

                Deep in the bowels of this strangely designed starship sat a squat orange creature on a throne, staring in deep thought at something only he could see. Behind him stood what might have been a man if it wasn't blue, seven feet tall, and of pointy ears. His attire might make one think of a movie about an Arabian legend, complete with the pointy shoes and bare chest. The 'M' on his forehead was more pronounced than any other seen so far by Gohan or Videl, and his power is beyond any thusfar as well.

                With suddenness, Babidi looked up from his musings to speak. The blue, pointy-eared giant was instantly at attention, and looked for the first word from his master.

                "We have an enemy. Or even two. The sensor I told those bumbling idiots to strike in the case of an attack gave me the power levels of one rather strong warrior. But whoever it is can't protect their city forever. We have all the time in the universe and all the life on this world to go forward with our plans. Buu will be revived, and I am patient. You will go to Satan City, taking the strongest of warriors from the other cities we've trampled. There you will train more men than before, and you will crush this fiery upstart who dares interfere with my plans."

                "Yes, sire. I am at your bidding."

                "Now, Arush."

                "I am already gone, my master." He turned on heel and exited the room.

                "This is very interesting..." Babidi whispered to himself, thinking of the power of all of his men together. They'd all been defeated. Moreover, the power of this one was considerable, for a human.

                "Very interesting indeed."

---|=||\|


	4. Chapter 3

Tamshii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777

**Chapter Three**

_He lurks in here._

-Loner, TMMB

_"Only power matters, everything else is a delusion for the weak!"_

-Vegeta

_                winter solitude-_

_in a world of one color_

_                the sound of wind_

-Basho

                Winter was in full swing before the end of November. December passed unnoticed under the nose of Satan City's populace. The school closed on the nineteenth after the end of the science fair, and Gohan spent Christmas vacation at his mother's home. That was how he was coming to think of it, that his home was in the city and his family's was in the mountains. His cozy little apartment was becoming very personal to him, moreso than his room at home had ever been.

                Videl spent the vacation in her father's mansion like always, where she put up a small Christmas tree in her room, by herself. It was nice enough, but Christmas left her feeling sadder than usual because there was just something... missing. She realized that there was nobody she could say 'merry Christmas' to, or to hug and open gifts with. There were going to be lots of gifts, of course, just that they would be a week late because her father would realize that he had a daughter somewhere near midnight tonight. And it wasn't just that. There was an empty spot inside of her that her father could never have filled, that her mother couldn't have changed. Something just wasn't there.

                Gohan stared up at the stars on Christmas night, about the time Videl cried herself to sleep for the first time in a while, and made a wish. "I wish I may, I wish I might, first star I see tonight, have the wish I wish tonight..."

                I know that she's waiting for me. I wish I could just find her...

-*-

                 A world of pristine, unbroken white. Looking out from the balcony under the snow-covered overhang, Gohan enjoyed the sight of a city untouched. It was six A.M. on the second day of the year, and he was glad to finally wake in his own bed. Home just wasn't 'home' anymore.

                For the first time in a month or so, Gohan thought about what was brewing on the darker side of the city. Powers were increasing, he could sense, and something horrible was probably in the works.

                Today, he decided. Gohan was going to find the source of this power. But he knew that it would be easily stopped, so he was going to watch. Watch every move they make and try to find out the reasoning behind this mess. Nothing could be as so simplistic as to boil down to greed or wanton destruction, could it? And stopping the plot behind the plot was probably more important.

                And why not? But with an operation as big as this seemed to be, how could the whole point just be to destroy or kill? It wasn't worth the brain wracking thought required, and that was why Gohan was going to be watching.

                He went inside to get dressed.

                It was cold. Not cold enough to make a Saiyan shiver madly and clutch his jacket tightly to himself, but one must remember that Gohan was only half-Saiyan. And the only jacket he owned was a windbreaker.

                That wasn't something to worry over. In front of him was a building emanating the strongest of the dark powers. It wasn't really the power itself that was dark, just that there was an air of malice about it. It wasn't... right. Un-right in the same way as those pale-skinned, pain-ignorant man-creatures. They weren't human, because their lives were given up to this Babidi thing.

                And now they were increasing their power in the same manner as before, except more visibly. Rather than being given a limitless well of energy to draw from, they were taking the energy for their own, permanently, which probably increased the invisible power they could draw on.

                The building, an abandoned warehouse, wasn't well guarded at all. They probably never expected anyone who was actually searching for them to find them. Any of the ignorant personages of the city would be stopped by the foot-thick steel door. Gohan had sensed their power, and figured that they probably didn't know about that ability if they didn't try to defend against it. That meant that they couldn't sense him. Except that Gohan didn't know if this was just a school where they might learn some of those techniques he had appreciated for all these years.

                Before coming here, Gohan had checked on other places that seemed the same, never finding more than a single gang or tiny group of ragged beggars. None were worth any trouble. And none were in on any part of Babidi's operation that was this big.

                From the rooftop Gohan peered in on a training floor of about a hundred people. They were doing something like Tai Chi or a complex kata in perfect synch with each other. They were training to work as a team. Something big was going down. And they were all wearing the same thing, a black jumpsuit. Every single person in sight had an 'M' on their foreheads. This was the place.

                Gohan stayed for a few more hours, having to change position a lot near the end because of the strange way he was perched; he was leaning over a box of steel jutting up from the roof. It was covered by a single pane of glass. He found that the miniature army actually consisted of about five hundred, each in a different section practicing different things at different times. No plans were gone over where he could see; it was all training.

                Gohan wished he had a watch. He would have to buy one of those cheap twelve-dollar ones soon if he wanted to do this kind of active surveillance on someone. And sooner rather than later, he had to get into this building and set up a way to hear things, or observe them better. Maybe one of those web cameras that could broadcast to your home. Where would you get one? An electronics store? Before he went and got one he would have to find a way in. That could wait until tomorrow. He only had until the fifth before he had to return to school.

                This was getting ridiculous.

                Gohan had been coming to the warehouse every day after school for a week now, and every single moment was the same every day. His watch proved it. At two fifty-nine, group '1' was always on the big blue mat in the center that he had observed on the first day. group '2' was always sparring in the upper left quad of the building. That was all he could generally see. At three-thirty, group '3' was on the mat, while group '2' continued to do the same monotonous spars that would have amazed the average joe, but were really just simple and repetitive. The shifts were 'staggered', at least Gohan was assuming. It might just be that they had a confusing schedule.

                There had to be some variation! There had to be a speck of normality, hadn't there? Or else they would just burn out from too much training, right? Socialization, or a learning session, or something had to be going on in other parts the building. They had to bond in tight groups, not just as unified mobs.

                Unless that was the point... Take away humanity, and just let them wave over cities without care for a single person.

                Gohan had tried to get in at all hours of the day. There was always active training going on. And he would bet that it was exactly that way every day and night after every day and night. He had searched the building as best he could without being spotted. The only way in or out appeared to be through the rooftop window or the big main door. They might have had an underground entrance, but the only access would be the sewer, and that wasn't assured. It might be part of a separate tunnel system like the big room where Babidi had spoken.

                The roof window was a fairly big piece of glass, but unless he could take the entire glass out, he couldn't get in unseen. And even that plan would be extremely visible to anyone inside since there was always a group on the big mat. Five groups must give them enough time to cycle for rest plus all of the other 'stations'.

                Today, Gohan went home early. He hadn't had enough time during the rest of his vacation to do much of anything, and hated how long this was taking. There had to be some way to do this.

                Uncharacteristically, he turned on the television. It was some daytime drama. He sat down to watch. There was a cliche pizza delivery boy slash super-hero who waltzed up to the 'bad guys' secret hideout' and knocked. Wrong address?

                No way. Nonono, bad Gohan! That's an incredibly stupid idea. So stupid, in fact, that he could try it. He couldn't just break his way in, and once that door was open, he was certain he was fast enough to get in unseen. Maybe. This was a horrible plan. This just wasn't good.

                And how would he get out? How about the same way he had gotten in? They couldn't see him, not once, else they might move the entire operation. Or sweep the place for what he would leave behind. This required some decently quick thinking. Gohan was good at that. He could do this. He could. Yeah, just keep telling yourself that...

                This was stupid. No sense at all, a genius like him should be able to come up with a more ingenuitive plan. Like join their cult. Wait, they have those 'M' tattoos. Get a tattoo to save a lot of people? No, of course not. People's lives weren't equal to the worth of his soft, supple skin.

                So funny tonight. He should go pro. This... it wasn't going to work. It couldn't- No. Stop. If you don't think it'll work, then it won't. Let's just ignore that surge of adrenaline. He could move perfectly fine without it. He could run fast. Straight into the hands of bloody friggin' life-sucking cultists. Cultist? Is that even a word? This is bad; thinking is hard when you know that your first mistake could jeopardize the future. If he screwed up then it would only get ten times harder to find out what he needed to know.

                Clothes. Check. Honestly, funnier than a barrel of monkeys. Wait, that's not funny. A barrel of something, then. Gohan was wearing the purple uniform of the great Piccolo. Grrrreat. Like Tony the tiger on that commercial after that stupid show. Why did I turn on that damn television? Why?

                The pizza. It wasn't really necessary, but they might wonder why the hell someone had knocked. He was going to drop it and fly through the door. He needed to be super-Saiyan, in order to move that fast. What if they didn't open it? What if they looked at him before they opened it? What if they suspected something because the pizza guy wasn't there? That was why he had a note. 'Sorry your pizza was late, it's free, got to go to another place I'm almost late for'.

                There were too many things that could go wrong. He didn't need to do this tonight. No, he didn't.

                It was too late; he was at the door. A good thing they didn't keep surveillance on their doors or there would be no stupid plan at all.

                Wait a minute. There was something different. That wasn't good in a place as monotonous as this. There was a power inside there that was higher than any other he could sense within, and this was pure power, not just something leached off of a dark wellspring.

                There was yelling. Yelling that could be heard almost distinctly through a foot-thick steel door and probably some soundproofing if the glass up top was any example. Speaking of sound, he had an audio bug he'd built by himself. Those webcams were expensive! At least by his standards. And any large withdrawal would prompt questions from his mother who received an account report every month. She probably went over it with a fine-tooth comb.

                It would take accuracy. Within fifty feet he could keep the sound in directional mode, so that only a single area is scanned. But that yelling was getting louder. An interruption, perhaps?

                Knock, said the door. Silence reigned within. Gohan laid the pizza on the ground with the note clearly visible and stepped up to the door with barely a fraction of an inch between flesh and cold steel.

                Here it comes, they're going to ask something or open something to look or turn on some cameras and light that I missed because they were hidden or-

                The door opened. He moved fast. Very very fast. To the right, and down, there was a low ceiling and there was a dark spot, in a tenth of a second. It must have been forty feet. One hundred eighty miles per hour. The flying adolescent is quicker than the eye.

                Gohan took everything in at once. The place was a huge rectangle, four stories high by about a thousand feet long on two ends. The shorter sides weren't too much less than the long, he guessed that they were seven hundred feet or so.

                He was floating with his head just beneath what could be dormitories, positioned fifteen feet in the air by supports that circled two sides. The adjoining side was definitely not dormitories because it was being used by one of the groups in training who were doing energy attacks.

                Light covered the mat and two sides, while the outside of the mat was impenetrable darkness, except above the ramps where floodlight lit everything. What had been blocking Gohan's view, so that he could only see the one corner in which normal sparring was actively going on, had been an extension of the rooms above him, probably a communications center.

                In the third corner, where there was no normal sparring, no Gohan, no energy attacking, and no ramp because it ended, was some air spars. But that wasn't strictly speaking. They seemed to only be learning how to use energy in jumps.

                Therefore they couldn't fly. One of his assumptions already, and thankfully, proven wrong. Which would go next? Maybe the communication thing was a nuclear weapons command console. Cue canned laughter. Ha ha ha.

                Gohan blinked. His eyes felt like they had been open too long and it only took a moment to realize that the source of the yelling had stopped yelling and was looking around. The only person it could have been was the blue leviathan that seemed to be the same one from Babidi's message, except... bigger. The camera was supposed to add ten pounds, not subtract, right? He must be Babidi's right hand guy, Gohan reasoned.

                Did he sense Gohan's energy? It had only been a second or two since Gohan's entrance, and it was only dumb luck that he had been preoccupied when Gohan had gone super-Saiyan, but in that amount of time he might pinpoint a power as great as Gohan's.

                So don't panic, turn off the lights. His hair went black and his eyes darkened from glowing sea-blue to a deep and clear onyx. The giant shook his head and began to command the exercises again. Instead of the synch techniques they were faux-fighting. Moving slow enough that there was no force on impact. Just push. The partner reacted in slow, too. Gohan watched the man yell some last thing. His voice carried like a cow in a tornado. "And after what he did," gesturing at a pile of dust, "you should have stopped him. It is good that you are replaceable." 

                Gohan felt a chill as he watched the child who was being yelled at bow his head, and then the blue monster called on Babidi. 'Dust to dust...'

                If only Gohan hadn't left early today, he might have caught the arrival of this guy and convinced himself not to go through with any sort of fool-worthy plan. If only.

                Gohan watched what was happening throughout the building. The energy attack training was particularly interesting as they were launching attacks at their highest level of power into what seemed to be an oversized padded partition. And it absorbed the energy. None of the other stuff was interesting because the jumpers were identical to the sparring he had constantly watched, except airborne. And the new techniques on the mat were just a moment's excitement because it was such a change from routine. At least from here he could see a bit of socialization from today's teachers on the energy floor. Four platforms rose from the ground and all five hundred men were practicing at once.

                Gohan realized that he had tried to dehumanize these people himself. Really, they were just the most apt of the brainwashed children taken off of the streets. Children. Exactly like him. Changed and hurt children, but still.

                No. In the reality he had and continued to face, their souls were not their own anymore.

                Shaking off his sudden moral dilemma, he swore when he realized that the only place that had a chance of being what he sought was what he couldn't see: that which was above him. The fifth group must have been sleeping or something. He needed to see!

                Actually, it would be group number three. The group above him. Gohan had memorized some key faces in each group, and number three was missing.

                What could he do? He would have to follow the darkness down the side of the building in order to get a better view.

                This he did. And he saw the dorms were closed off from the main room except through a single door and what could have been an observation window on the first level. Most likely was, because from that point you could see everything in the building.

                There would be no way- wait! That was it! The shifts were staggered, so that there might be ten minutes during which no one was in there at all. Even if it seemed as though every station was taken, they might have some other function during those ten minutes. And if the door took a few seconds to close... He could make his escape through the wall if need be, since this was the last place he had to visit. Maybe cut the wall at an angle beneath whatever coverings there were, so that even if he couldn't replace it very well, it wouldn't be noticed.

                But he could do it. It might take all night, but he could. Confidence was slowly leaking into this God-forsaken plan of his. What plan? There was enough last minute improvisation, or what felt like it.

                The door was opening. That hadn't taken very long at all. Gohan looked around quickly and noticed, before he ran up to the dorms and took the shortest flight he could, that the blue dude had stopped his training and was walking away from the mat.

                Door was sliding shut too fast, this wouldn't work, it was probably made of metal or something, c'mon! This had to work! After everything up to this point, all it took to convince himself, his unfactored opposition, and especially his grand entrance!

                In.

                The first thing he noticed was how drab it was. The second thing he noticed was that there were voices up the stairs right in front of him. He should have counted all hundred of them, he quietly scolded himself.

                Gohan floated up near the ceiling, but once the voices didn't seem to be coming any closer, he peered up around the wall opposite the stairs. The second floor seemed to have a screen embedded in the wall, much like a desk, except that it was droning something over and over. Maps, diagrams, pictures, it was the entire city! They were memorizing the city in their sleep! And then he heard, "Babidi's will be done, gather the light of every being and together we shall call forth the greatest power in the universe for ourselves."

                This was the spot, he thought. But then he realized something. There was only one bed on the lowest floor, and he was guessing twenty-five on every level above that. So that was the big blue's bed? It was certainly big enough. It couldn't be a squad leader's because there were no special privileges or classes of rank that he had observed. They took turns teaching, probably because teaching is the best way to learn.

                So, this was where he alone lived. And look at that table over there, what might that be? A letter? Yes, it is. And it is still unopened.

                Gohan felt something strange for a second. Looking around, he realized that if he went for the letter he'd be in full view of that circular observation window, and of the mammoth creature backing towards him while still looking out at his troops.

                In a desperate move, Gohan went super-Saiyan, grabbed the letter, and then powered down in the space of a second. That was the second time that blue-boy out there could have sensed him, and he might not ignore that. Except that if he hadn't noticed outside, maybe he wasn't so adept at it as Gohan and the other Earth-protectors. Gohan shoved the letter beneath his shirt as he thought.

                He remembered Vegeta telling him that it was hazy for a while, that he could sense things and people, but compared to today it was like hearing voices in a pea soup fog.

                Maybe not in those exact words, but... The guy was at the door! Gohan ran up to the highest level to escape, but realized that he hadn't set the bug. He needed to. Badly. So he crept down the stairs and floated to the corner of the wall opposite the first landing. He could hear breathing. Heavy breathing. The hairs on his neck rose. Any second now, any second, any second, it was all over, it had all been for nothing, incredibly stupid, he had to do this in complete anonymity.

                It was set. It was in the corner of the opening that led down the stairs. Gohan returned to the top level by flying, but then remembered that it would flare his ki. He was silently praying that the blue thing wasn't paying any attention.

                Gohan used his ki like a laser beam from the tip of a finger. He made an outward-angled incision in the steel ceiling, and lifted it up slowly. It was like the top of a pumpkin on Holloween.

                Once he was out, he tried melting the metal in a bit, but heard pounding feet and a roar that shook the ceiling he was standing on. Eyes wide, blood rushing in his ears, he took off.

                When he realized what he had learned, he glanced at his watch. It was twelve thirty in the black sky. There would be no one in the dorms at twelve twenty-five every single night, if the last week or so was any indication. He had a way back in. Just in case. Gohan was hoping that he wouldn't need it.

                At home, Gohan threw his clothes off, put on a robe, and fell into his bed already asleep. By pure fault of coincidence, the letter fell into the space between his bookshelf and the wall, not to be discovered for almost two years.

-*-

                It was lucky that Gohan had left when he did, because in his last minute of infiltration he was being stalked by one of the greatest hunters of the Liu'an. As Gohan replaced the ceiling and did a tiny bit of metal-working, a large blue beast who had stripped to an organic loincloth charged the room and leaped for the center where he had heard the footstep a moment before.

                With a crash he fell to his face. His senses must be getting faulty. This wasn't good. Babidi couldn't learn that he was becoming unreliable. So, he had to make himself reliable. When the time came, no one would dare usurp Babidi because of Arush, the right hand of this universe's most powerful sorcerer.

-*-

                Videl was slipping.

                It had begun with Christmas night and only got worse. She hadn't done anything except school in weeks. No training, no reading, no television, no music, just... Sleep. She decided to pass all that empty, lonely time by ignoring its existence. So she was taking long afternoon naps.

                Wasn't that a sign of depression? Videl had escaped her escapes. What could she do now? It had been three weeks since they had returned to schooling, and everything was just dark. Nothing was nice anymore. She tried to be happy, but tears always welled up in her eyes unbidden. There was no reason behind them, but she just cried silently, letting the salty droplets roll down her cheek in a vain attempt to wash away the shore of memory.

                It was like a slope. Every day she would get lower and lower.

                Except that she hit a point where it stopped. She didn't get worse, but she didn't get better either.

                And now she just wanted to run away. That might be a solution, go out to where her power, her strength, where she herself had once had a use- on the streets. Maybe they would have reset their operations by now. She desperately needed to kick someone's butt. To feel needed.

                She sighed. Haunted by sighs. Weren't they symbols of regret? What could she regret, but her lost self?

                Lost. She wanted to be truly lost, without a thought to plague her. So she went to sleep.

                Hours later, Videl woke in a sweat. Someone had called her. The strength that comes from being needed found itself in her chest, above her heart. She flew out of her bed, still dressed, noticing that her clock said eleven.

                She grabbed her shoes and practically flew out of the house.

                Videl grabbed a train at random. Seeming random. There was something drawing her, pulling her to a destination.

                After twenty minutes she was on the edge of the city. The warehouse district itself. She hadn't been here before, and was wondering what she was doing. Ten minutes dragged by as she ambled around. Nothing was happening. There wasn't a single person on any street she had passed, as though they had been warned of what was coming.

                Something was coming? Videl broke into a run down the first alley after that thought, and soon was streaking like lightning down street after backstreet. Stop!

                With a crash, she hit a wall on the soles of her feet. A second later she slid to the ground in a heap of cardboard conveniently beneath her. Videl froze. Something was coming. She backed into a larger heap of cardboard and covered herself in shadow. It was big.

-*-

                Gohan was bent over the bed in such a way that his head touched the carpet while his feet were under the gentle breeze caused by the fan. It's fun, he thought, to have the blood rushing to your head. Fun fun silly willy. Joy. And look at all this time passing. So much time...

                He had gotten the motherload with his bug in place. They were starting tonight, and they were going to wave over a section of the city at a time. They would sweep it so that no one escaped, and that was why they had to know the intricate details of every building. No one was going to be left standing. They were stealing life-energy for Babidi. That was the reasoning behind the infliction of pain. Give to your deity. Give. More!

                However, just the other day an epiphany had been visited upon Gohan. He realized that he had gone to his mother's house, to fight those energy-thieves, to school, and put every thought into them just so that he wouldn't have to admit the truth to himself.

                He was very alone in his dark apartment. He was always alone. No one could touch him on the inside, no one. There might have been someone, but what was that? An imagined feeling. He did everything he could to ignore the cold feeling always filling him. That was the secret answer. That was the lesson he had learned. And he wondered, what was the point of destroying such an evil if all it did was leaving you feeling the same way as before? Why do it if your reasons are so selfish, so that it isn't because you can but because you want something out of it?

                Do the means justify the ends? In this case, there might be a unified 'yes' from all fronts. But this wasn't a question of the nameless millions who could fall prey to a life-sucking orange midget, it was of whether or not Gohan wanted to perpetuate his own self-piteous half-life. His life was horrible, by most standards. He was okay with it, but it wouldn't even be considered a healthy lifestyle. No friends, no real familial connections, no life outside school and books. Didn't relate to the world except to read the paper. Didn't go to pep rallies and school sports. Didn't exercise. Ate right, but that was because it was economical.

                Maybe... No, he had done that after the Cell Games. Perhaps his subconscious would work against him and get him killed. Who knew? That might be fun. His dad had done it several times already. And came back most of the time.

                He just didn't care about his own life. No death wish, not suicidal, just... uncaring. Could he care about the lives of others if that was so? Apparently.

                But why should he go out and stop them? He wanted a reason.

                A voice whispered in his ear, why did your father die? What did he value?

                Is that why I value others' lives? Gohan replied.

                No, it is because you trust in him. Do you trust your father and his Truth?

                I...

                Gohan stood up and sighed. A small smile came to his face.

                Argh. He didn't want to wear purple, so he decided to go in some black pants and shirt, with a green overthingy. Needless to say, he was cool. Oh yeah, get that self-esteem up there! Trust your self-image and everything will fall into place. Really. You know, some people at his high school might actually believe that, with all they go through to look 'good'. It was funny sometimes.

                He jumped from his balcony and rocketed away. A golden bolt of light, illuminating the steel machinations reaching for the heavens.

                It was dark.

                It was late, but it was still dark for this time of night. There were no streetlights and no stars. Cloudy. It was going to rain. Maybe.

                Gohan walked from the warehouse down the streets Babidi's men were going to take to get to the first checkpoint. It was a back alley, with a dead end, and a sidestreet that was about three-quarters down. A smoky pillar was rising from a broken steam pipe. As Gohan walked down the street the moon came out, illuminating a mountain of cardboard in the mouth of that sidestreet, and the white, rising steam. To his left, opposite the sidestreet, was a building under construction that would probably never be worked on, and hadn't been for months.

                A street urchin appeared to be doing something in the cardboard, and might have been scared of the sight of a man, or rather a big-for-his-age fifteen-year-old bathed in golden fire.

                Gohan was alert. There were people all around him, especially in that framework building. Blue-boy had his power maxed out and was standing behind him.

                For a moment Gohan was worried about that subconscious deathwish. But then he powered up a bit, enough to destroy them all with a few blasts, and lost the feeling.

                Easy pickings. Bad to underestimate the enemy, ne? Even when you think you know him...

                They all jumped on him at once, and he was pierced by a million swords. Actually, it was just the lamps' needles. They were stealing his energy, and he was getting weaker, and more were stabbing him, he was falling...

                If they wanted energy, they would get energy! He blew his power sky high, destroying about half of the lamps and throwing everyone and everything away from him.

                He heard a ferocious growl and suddenly couldn't breathe. His neck was being crushed, his body was indenting the wall, he was dying. NO! He was the son of Goku! He was a Saiyan, and the strongest warrior in the entire God-be-damned universe! He was Gohan Son!

                A roar, close to one he had screamed out years ago in a timeless room, echoed through the city from his air-filled diaphragm out of his vulnerable throat, past his air-starved lips.

                But it was no use. The beast was caged. His energy was being taken through the thing's hand.  He should have powered up more. Gohan could hear the shout of his captor, the laughs of the underlings, and his eyes were caught by the darkness hiding in this demon's eyes. They were blue, like his skin, but also black. There was evil there.

                Gohan could imagine the light dancing in the same eyes, so clearly, as he watched this malformed, blue-colored murderer's children playing by the fire, having fun, loving. Who his wife could have been, how sweet she was, how much they were in love. Just imagine what might have been. Imagine the light you desire. Just rest. Rest.

                Help...

-*-

                Smash! Replay: Sma- Sma- SMASH! Add in the sound effects and the theme music.

                Awestriking.

                Videl appeared, in such a rage that her power seemed to rocket to the stars. Gohan would have felt sorry for the guy if he had been able to watch. You see, that time when Videl had kicked Gohan in the forearms in the room that Babidi had spoken in she had put ki behind the kick subconsciously. In the two months or so since then, her power had reached just the right ups and downs so that in this flying strike, massive power was thrust into the attack. The effect of the physical hit and the energy together threw Videl and Arush through the entire framework building, and through a whole lot of supports. Afterwards, they crashed through a brick wall into the back of a small pub that was already closed. It would have continued for a lot farther, if Arush hadn't suddenly struck Videl back through the frame building.

                She grabbed one of supports, bending it, and threw herself to the ground.

                Twist, dodge, block, duck, roundhouse! Blocked, turn, jump, dive, dodge, turn, block.

                Poetry in motion. Suddenly, something Videl wasn't ready for, the blue creature activated what looked like a light...

                Explosion! Videl was thrown through a wall as the percussive eruption of light and sound rang in her ears.

                What was that? What was- The golden guy! What had happened to him? This one had a strange ability, and she didn't know what to do about it. So she ran back to the alleyway. At least she had speed on the guy.

                They were crowded over him. Stabbing him with lamps. Videl screamed in what she hoped was a fear-inspiring way.

                It was. They backed away, and Videl saw that the gold was flickering. She delivered three sweeping kicks to their heads, and cracked the skulls of half against the other half. Then she began to go at one after the other with blazing speed. Who could, tried to turn and run. They started these strange jumping techniques that let them go farther, but the blue beast appeared.               

                "Cowards! Your use has ceased! Return your energy!" He held out a hand and they fell to dust. Big blue only got stronger from this.

                "Now for you, little girl." He smiled darkly. Ecchi.

                But his smile disappeared when she rushed him again and delivered a flurry of moves knocking him around. They were doing damage, but not enough! How could she do it? How?!

                He powered up another ball of light, and another and another. They were launched in a coalescing wave, until Videl couldn't breathe because of the heat, was blinded by the light. But she stood her ground, even as the ground around her fell away. A block by her forearms seemed to serve as a good enough shield, except that her baggy clothes were ripped in some places by the inferno.

                She yelled. It wasn't of rage or of pain, but frustration. Something was there! Just beyond reach! Like when a word is on the tip of your tongue, and you know it and what it means and what it sounds like, but just can't remember...

                Though she couldn't remember even a second later how, she powered up a tiny little ball of light in her cupped hands. The she inverted her hands and the ball grew. Then a little more. And then a lot more. With a shout, she pushed it at her enemy.

                With a ripping sound as it burned the air itself, the ball of energy broke apart the bugger, and his scream satisfied Videl's ears. She felt sick afterwards as she remembered how it felt to be the one with the power, the winner, the victor, who had brutally murdered her opponent. Yet he was going to kill her, kill many others, right? So, was that justification? Was it really?

                Oh no! Where was that guy? She... Videl felt dizzy. She froze, and felt her mind opening. Everything was already there, and perhaps one latent ability had triggered another.

                Everything around her was suddenly visible. Not to her eyes, no, to her mind. She could feel everything. There was herself. And a- was that her shadow? No, it was the golden guy! Every living thing filled her mind. There was an old person, whose power was so infinitesimal compared to her own that it wasn't funny. There were people in their homes, so weak. Was she really that strong? This was incredible. And just being able to know... Maybe it had a flaw. How did you turn it off? How did you ignore it? Was it supposed to be this easy? This was giving her a headache, and after that battle she just wanted to sleep.

                After a moment, Gohan came into her sight. He was staggering drunkenly away. His hair was flickering, and she could tell that his power wasn't even half of her own. Videl had a clue that it took power to maintain that flaring energy surrounding him. Did he not want her to see his black hair? And she knew for a fact that it was black, so said her locket. Her locket! She noticed that she could feel the same power from the guy as the locket. Was that supposed to happen? Did hair carry energy? That didn't make sense.

                Videl ran up to him. "What's wrong? Your energy, it's... low. How do you control this sense? It's overwhelming. I think I might pass out from the headache it's giving me." She slipped one of his arms around her shoulder and supported his entire weight. He wasn't especially talkative. Probably because of the fact that half of his life force had just been stolen. Did this stuff regenerate with sleep? That was something that made more sense than hair energy.

                "N-no..." he whispered.

                "No, what? You don't want my help? You're weak. I can help. Let me help you." I want to be your friend. I want to know you. We are so alike. We feel so alike, our energy. I feel as though I've known you forever and I haven't heard ten words out of your mouth since I met you. I met you long ago. You helped me. It was you that Bulma's husband was talking about, it was your gift, wasn't it? You gave me my strength. You're also the reason I don't have the muscles to show for it. Please, let me help.

                "I..." He looked like he might cry. His eyes shined in the moonlight. His mouth gaped, and he gently slid out of her grip. Videl stood up straight and just stared at him. He looked so sad. Then he lifted off and was gone.

                No, not gone. Videl gave chase, running as fast as he could fly, trying to follow his energy, trying, trying so very very hard.

                Then the heavens trembled, the sky opened up, and its tears met Videl's. She was leaning against a building, just hurting.

                "No no no, why did you have to do that? Why..." Her eyes were lost. That was what she had set out to do, ne? Get lost. And now she was lost. More lost than ever. In sight of her goal. Her goal? Her dream? Loneliness struck so deep... And thought seemed ignorant of her condition, so her idea was for nothing, she could never get so lost that this heartache wasn't ever-present.

                She was thoughtlessly hitting the bottom of her fist against the wall, just staring blankly into space. Futility was her ally. Oh, what a friend. She felt as though her heart had been pierced.

                Then anger took over and she smashed a fist all the way through the wall. Too many questions, about herself, about this guy, about this dark enemy, too many! Videl wanted to scream.

                She took the long way home.

-*-

                Gohan made it home and crawled into bed. Good thing he had left the balcony door open.

                He was pissed at himself. After he had let himself down, she had gotten into the fight. Then everything got all jumbled. Her questions were going inside one part of his brain, which was trying to answer them, but then the other half was giving in to the rapture of his arm around her, how that was the answer to everything. She was the answer. Just return to her, his mind was saying. But there was something wrong. He had frozen, as though he was afraid of solving all of these problems. Afraid of the arms that could hold him, support him. What was wrong with him? He didn't want to deal with this.

                When she had stared at him he had seen... himself. She was as forlorn as he was. And so terribly lonely. He was good at reading eyes. Whispers of thought were rendered visible through the eyes. Especially the deepest sort of pain. He tried to shake off his guilt and the tears that fell down his cheeks.

                Then there was that she had somehow learned how to sense energy and couldn't ignore it. Would she search for him? What would he do? It wouldn't be too sharp for a while yet, and still, it might be that she could only sense him as well as he could sense her. However, she hadn't been sensing her own self for the last eleven years or more. And it had changed only four years ago, and her senses hadn't been adapted for too long.

                But still, if she did find him- no, he had been super-Saiyan. She wouldn't recognize him and he could talk his way out of it. She might figure it out if they continually met on her search, but still, he knew how to lower his power as well. Yet, why was he running in the first place? He had wanted so much to find her, and now... He really didn't want to think about his problems right now.

                So, not to worry. Just don't freeze up next time the girl of your dreams saves your life, and tries to help you. And don't worry about Babidi for a while, since his right hand man is out of the picture. At least, that's assuming he was the right hand man of Babidi.

                Gohan fell asleep to the thought of a certain girl, with dreams of long, dark black hair, and arms that were so small yet held a strength beyond the dreams of many.

                Just out reach, because of his own fear.

-*-

                Babidi had just finished another tantrum when he settled down into his chair and spoke to himself with heavy-lidded eyes.

                "I have to make that trip now. Go with my second plan. No longer will I just take people off of the streets. There's no one strong on this world, anyways, who might turn to evil. At least, not apparently. And I don't want to be too wasteful. I'll have to abandon those other three cities, but they weren't efficient. I'll give them all a supply of lamps before I leave. Then I can build up my base of soldiers, starting with that very special new general. By the time I return the tournament will start, and the very strongest beings in this world will be there. So will the purest of heart and strongest of body; so it has been foretold. That is where my plans will apex. Buu will rise.

                "My enemies on this world are now visible, as well. I am glad that I was able to sense power through Arush's mind. Stronger than they had been the last time, they were. And it is certain that they are only two. Let us see two against a horde of the universe's elite!

                "Dabura, I am coming."

---|=||\|


	5. Chapter 4

Tamashii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777

Author's notes:

I was thinking in third period on Tuesday when I had free time, and jotted down an outline that had been brewing in my mind. I got to the vague point of when Gohan and Videl actually meet, and I just _needed_ to write something about it separately. It ached to be released, just like this story has been for the last week and a half.

It's not the pun or the meaning or the hidden connotations within, in the way that John is "Beloved of God" and Gohan is a type of miso (I think), but that it is the essence of being, of who you are, and the standard you grow into and live up to.

Like the eyes, it is a conveyance of the soul. Knowing someone's name, the name they hide within themselves, is truly an intimate connection.

In anime, a name is sometimes held in thrall by so many who truly find themselves through it, and the name becomes likened to a character's soul. That is why knowledge of each other's name in this story is like a watershed for the connection they already have.

I didn't do it to make a big scene. Their relationship just wasn't at that point, that's all...

Danke.

I want to thank my reviewers.

I was amazed, speechless, and overjoyed by the response to my story.

Thank you all. *Bows humbly*

Wiegraf30: your respect honors me. Domo, *bows again*

I got an overview of the entire Buu saga from DBZ dominion. It's going to be different. *Laughs* Way different. But I'm not going to think too much about that until I reach the tournament, about four or five chapters away.

The quotes are only talking about a single tiny little 'white' lie that has a few different meanings. And if you can find it, it's a hint at things ahead. So many ideas are floating around my head! I can't wait for Gohan's birthday!

You probably noticed the format of this chapter and number three- I just found Dreamweaver so I'll be able to fix it soon.

Finally, the question about the 'oni factor' from last chapter: 'Oni' is japanese for devil, as well as a cognate for 0-9. The zero nine factor is 0.000000001 percent probability. Nine zeroes. I feel smart for leaching that off of Evangelion.

****

Chapter Four

__

"When a Man Lies, He Murders Some Part of the World. 

"These Are the Pale Deaths Which Men Miscall Their Lives.

"All this I Cannot Bear to Witness Any Longer. 

"Cannot the Kingdom of Salvation Take Me Home?"

-Cliff Burton, Metallica

__

Sometimes lies were more dependable than truth.

--Orson Scott Card

"Ender's Game"

__

Yours is not to question why, so shut up.

-Tira Misu

Gohan slipped home with the groceries under an arm.

He had been right to expect that she would try to find him, and this was already the third time in just a week.

He had woken with a headache to find a wet carpet around the balcony where the door had been open all night. His energy wasn't regenerating as fast as it might have, so he really didn't want to do much of anything. Breakfast at the little table in the kitchen was drearier than most days, and that was saying something. He used one of the steam vacuums from the big janitorial wing without permission, then left for Bulma's. Gohan figured the fresh air might help some, plus it had been ages since he had been there.

He spent a long time just listening to Bulma babble on without thought, enjoying another human presence. They talked for at least five hours or so, since it was Saturday after all. So many things were changing, everyone was moving on from what life had been. He figured that this was what it was like before his father's brother came. Even Vegeta was finding a new way to live. He was getting into the family business.

'I'd swear, he hides that brain of his under all that muscle, but once he shows it he can do almost anything with numbers. He says it comes from living in a more advanced society. I gave him a piece of my mind about his advanced society....'

It was fun. But he had an awkward feeling all the way home, and it just got stronger and stronger until just before he entered his building and turned to look around the street. That girl was ten feet behind him! It was hard to act casual and disappear around a corner. He flew miles and miles away, then pushed his power down to nil before walking home. Gohan thought he had lost her, but suspected that she had given up for the day. Or had only found him by chance.

His power was still weak and he didn't have the focus to keep a watch at every minute of the day.

Now, he was running into her when he least expected it. The most recent run-in was at the tiny corner grocer right down the block. Maybe she lived close by or something, but this was getting to be a nuisance. Except that his mind was always whispering to him, sometimes yelling madly, What is wrong with you? It's her! Why?

And he could never give himself a straight answer. Gohan sighed.

A month. It had become a game of cat and mouse, about four days out of the week, and together they went to some interesting places. Quite a long game of hide-and-seek, played in museums, libraries, supermarkets, all over the city, and Gohan could tell that she enjoyed it. He was having fun himself. Unofficial dates. And she was honing her ability.

Gohan decided to change the rules. It was a day that she had decided not to chase him, and he easily located her unlowered power in a cafe. She was reading a book, something Gohan had just gotten out the previous week at the school library. He flared his ki, and she stopped reading to look around. Then she went back to reading. After he had done this four times, she made this sound that was somewhere between exasperation and rage, sort of a growl that came from the back of the throat. She got up and left the place, paying the bill and storming out. Then she grinned and it was like the sun coming out.

Gohan was hard-pressed to keep up with her without any rise in his energy level, but managed to follow her to the park. It was a large park, full of trees and twists and glades, even some areas that only certain people knew about because they'd been wandering around the place for years. He caught a glimpse of her black hair flying behind her as she raced into the maze, and it was a beautiful forest he glimpsed as he tried to keep up. Sunlight peered through the treetops and illuminated parts of the not-so-worn paths through the leaves that were still there from autumn. Spring was all around and it was only the beginning of March. 

Suddenly, he stopped. There was only one way forward, and that was through the opening ahead. It was brighter than the path all around, and seemed more beautiful, but that might just have been because Gohan could sense her within.

He went super-Saiyan and silently walked through the entrance. It was glorious, and green. Very green. A circle that was perhaps twenty-five feet in diameter surrounded by all sorts of trees and plants that formed a solid wall. Very private, in addition to very lovely. Life seemed to envelop a person in that sun-kissed hideaway. Light reflected off of every leaf on the wall by the sun shining through the top at an angle. The center of the grove was darker than the rest, just cool enough to be able to enjoy everything.

That girl with whom he was so infatuated was lying with her back to the soft carpet of life.

She whispered to him in the silence of her secret place.

"It's nice to see you again." Her smile said as much.

Gohan returned her smile and lay down beside her with his arms behind his head. It wasn't as bright, though, because he was puzzled.

"Are you going to run away again?"

"Maybe." He did his best to be wry.

Nothing was said for a moment. Then a whisper, "Why?" Her smile was gone.

The silence stretched for a long time. Gohan lost himself in the roof of leaves that seemed too intricate to be natural. Looking to his right, he found the girl studying him. So he did his best to give an honest answer.

"I don't think I know." She seemed surprised that he actually responded. He didn't want to continue, but he did. It was probably the confidence inspired by anonymity. "I... might love you. But I think I'm afraid." Gohan leaned up on one elbow and looked her in her endless blue eyes. His first instinct had been to look down or away, so he stared for as long as he could and felt like he was where he was supposed to be.

"Hm." Her smile returned. Gohan fell back down onto his back and closed his eyes. When he opened them, she was hovering only a foot above his face. Something like a sigh escaped one of their lips, but the moment was rather muddled in Gohan's memory.

Then, she was gone.

Gohan went back to the grove a few times, and it always seemed to give him energy and a new perspective, but she was never there. They hadn't been playing their game so often, and he felt distracted more and more by her presence at school, or on some street that wasn't all that far away. Time kind of blurred together, and before he knew it, three and a half weeks were passed since that first day in the park.

He stared at the calendar. It was the twenty-fifth. Friday, tomorrow, was the one day of the year that always set him off. He would have always just preferred to stay in bed all day, or something like that. But most of the time he couldn't control himself.

Gohan shoved a gi into a small pack. He considered bringing food and camping supplies, but knew that he could deal with nature.

Before he left, he caught himself staring at the desk, wondering if he should call his mother. Gohan decided against it. This was going to be one of those days that he didn't want anyone to see him. He just needed to get it out of his system.

-*-

Videl's dark state didn't leave her for a long time, and whenever she dwelled on her unrequited love it left a sour feeling in her stomach. Nothing looked so bleak as the future.

That is, until she began to have fun chasing the object of her affections. He took her to places that she loved and always surprised her by knowing where she wanted to go next. It got to be a common thing, and most of the time she didn't expend the effort of searching, just tried to enjoy herself.

Eventually, he tried to chase Videl. She had been waiting for this, hoping he might try, and Videl knew that he wouldn't want to be found himself. It must be that thing about the secret identity. He didn't trust her? That was a downer, but maybe he was just insecure. Intimacy was hard she knew, but even without knowing him Videl was ready to trust him. Nobody in her life but a stranger, eh?

The park was where she led him, to the place where she loved to write. No one else had ever found it, she thought, especially because she hid it behind a wall of leaves most of the time.

"I... think I love you."

She thought she would be overjoyed, glowing, and while she was happy it was more a melancholy feeling. Videl realized that she already knew.

And he was afraid. It hurt, just a little, to be locked out of his heart, even while she found she had a place in it. Her smile might have reflected her thoughts, because he sighed while staring into her with sad eyes. That moment, that endless moment where they had just been together was one of the beautiful things that lulled Videl into an afternoon nap as soon as she returned home.

Videl's thoughts couldn't help but wander after that day in the park. She stopped chasing golden-boy so much, because it didn't seem to have a point anymore. Of course, he was probably going to let his guard down even as her ability to sense his energy sharpened.

She just didn't see the point, and gradually stopped chasing him at all. Until about three weeks or so after he had first said he loved her, on March twenty-sixth. There were explosions all that day, although most of the populace thought that they were earthquakes. Videl knew better, but it wasn't by cause of her experience with immense energy blasts, instead it was that a power she knew all too well was as high as she had ever seen it. And the source of the blasts was coming from where the power was: south and east of the city.

She was on her way to school when she realized what was going on, and decided that he needed help. Something was wrong. She could feel it.

So Videl quickly ran back home and changed, letting her hair fall down from the accursed pigtails she was so in the habit of setting every morning. In a flash she was out of her tomboyish, baggy clothes and into a shiny red gi that would free up her limbs while she ran the distance to where she felt she was needed.

When she arrived, taking a little over an hour to cover what must have been thirty miles, she could only see thunderous flashes of light that appeared and disappeared randomly. They were striking the ground itself and the surrounding mountainside, every spot sending out a shockwave that traveled shook the city to the north. So close in, Videl almost had trouble staying on her feet. But she managed to get close enough to recognize the familiar figure of the power that seemed to move like a shadow.

Videl didn't know what to do, but thought that if she could just get him to stop she could try to help. How do you stop an unstoppable force?

Well, Videl did the only thing that made sense and jumped in front of Gohan. He came to a stop with an utterly ferocious look on his face. When he recognized who it was, his face softened to emotionless.

It didn't look like he was going to speak; his lips were pursed and his eyes seemed to be dully staring at Videl. She took this to mean she should talk.

In a low voice she asked, "What's wrong?"

When he didn't answer, she got a little frustrated. A moment ago, he had been set on vaporizing the landscape, and now his body was a statue. "What's wrong?" Videl repeated, just a bit more forcefully.

His eyes didn't shut, didn't blink, just snapped straight ahead. Videl felt like he was ignoring her. Her instinct, her heart told her that something was incredibly wrong with him, that he was hurting on the inside and couldn't let it out, wanted to punish himself. But he couldn't. And she just wanted him to trust her! Just a tiny little bit so that he could feel that much better! And now he dared to ignore her?

She wasn't sure whether to scream to cry or to walk away. So she took secret option number four. She stepped up to him so that there was barely any space between them, and stared into his eyes. Videl first became self-conscious, noticing her own ragged breathing, her own stinging eyes, her own racing heart. Then she really saw the man she'd come to aid.

There were tears in his eyes. The kind of tears that wouldn't fall, no matter how hard you wished them to, unless you squeezed your eyes tight and made a single drop roll down slowly. The kind that would only shed when you could feel sad, feel hurt, feel sorry, give up whatever you think you did wrong. And that strength, the strength to release the pain you won't let out of your grip, only comes from without.

She noticed his clothing. It was an old orange one with a rather large circle on front that had a trainer's symbol she'd never seen before on the front. It didn't fit him because he was still too short. It probably wasn't his. Tears and rips and bloody marks were all over the pants, and his arms were splotched with black bruises.

He smelled like sweat, Videl noticed, and nightmares. It was as hard to describe as the energy everyone emanated. He just seemed to be touched by regrets and dark things. So easy to release! Videl knew what she could do, how she could help...

She stepped closer and slid her arms under his, around his back. Buried her face in the crook of his neck, just wanting to pull him tight against her. It had been years and years, not since she was eight years old that anyone had hugged her. And never like this. She was giving him something so personal, something she wanted him to have, a shoulder he could just rest on. Just relax and hold me. But he didn't.

He didn't. He had started to relax, in the next moment might have shuddered and likely collapsed in her arms sobbing like a child, and she would have loved to protect him, loved to love him like this, but he stepped away. He just took a step away.

She imagined, just for a moment, that if only he was just playing, if only he had a big smile on his face and might suddenly and without reason chase her around this warzone and tickle her until she couldn't breathe, then maybe lean closer and closer until his breath was on her lips...

But no. The tears in his eyes looked rather painful, looked like deadweights that were killing him from the inside. His lip quivered, and he took a breath that seemed to slow the heart that was making his body shake noticeably.

He turned away. Videl's tears were flowing now. Silent tears of hurt. Her heart felt like a sore on the light of her soul. Like a dark tear in her being. She screamed at him. Screamed and screamed, "Why?! Why won't you ever let anyone help you, let anyone ever even try?! What's so wrong with you, what happened to you?!! What's wrong with me?" Her voice hit a high note. It was getting a little hoarse, "You... You're a coward! You can't help yourself, you can help others, but you aren't strong enough to let go of something that probably isn't even your fault! And why the hell not? Why the hell not, you bastard! You lying son of a... You said you loved me! Or 'thought you did', what was it, were you trying to make up your mind if I was pretty enough for the likes of a grand, self-hating bastard like you?!" She knew this wasn't true. She knew that he wasn't like that, couldn't think like that, knew that she just wanted to hurt him back for holding her during one night in the woods and then enchanting her dreams, before crushing her heart with his selfishness.

Gohan, to his merit, wasn't screaming back and wasn't doing anything violent. His face was contorted into a mask of what might have been pain or a fight against tears. His breaths were long and forced out through clenched teeth. His mind... it was completely clear in lieu of the scathing he was receiving. He couldn't think. He asked himself a simple _Why? _and realized a moment later that the answer was that he had hurt her. He had hurt her. He didn't know what to do, however. He had no idea what he could do to stop her from hurting if he couldn't stop himself from hurting. Anything he did would be the truth veiled in a lie. He couldn't admit that he truly loved her beyond his own mortal life, beyond the world and beyond heaven. Because if he did, he'd have to give up the pain, give up the guilt, give up responsibility for his father's death. He couldn't do that. He couldn't.

His mind drew a blank. His back was still to this girl whose name he still didn't know. Her words had died and Gohan turned to face her.

Videl saw that the look on his face was one of desperation. She wasn't stupid, she had read all about psychology and the conditioning one went through when you forced something on yourself. He can't live without the pain, or rather, his mind can't see a future beyond the pain. There has to be pain or what happened isn't real and the past before that won't mean anything.

She ran up to him and grabbed hold. No matter what his strength, no matter what he tried, not even if he flew a thousand feet up and threatened to throw her down would she dare release her hold. But she didn't have to. He sank to his knees with his head buried in her hair, his tears soaking her shirt. It was only a start, but it was a start. He couldn't really let go yet, couldn't, just needed to know that there was someone who wouldn't let go of him.

She realized that he was whispering something over and over, incoherently. Videl listened as hard as she could in the otherwise-soundless dusty mountainside.

"Daddy I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I should have... when I had the chance to do it I didn't and I might have- but you just- you just- you just-" From about that point he stopped making any sense at all. Videl rocked him gently and let her own tears mix with his as she held her cheek against his face.

After what seemed to the pair like hours, Gohan let go the grip he had fallen into. He mumbled an apology and couldn't face those eyes that seemed to know him so well.

He took one step, and then a second, and then a third, then glanced at her before he was to fly off into the noon sun.

Her eyes, they weren't pitiful, they weren't sorrowful, they weren't embarrassed. They just reached out to him. Told him that there was someone here, someone who cared and who loved and who wanted his love. Whenever he was ready. So much is said by the eyes that we miss because we never bother to look. Or we can't see beyond the shield others are forced to put up. But this was clear. She was hurting, herself. Her solace was found in him. His peace was found in accepting the truth, and she was the crutch he might use to survive without the pain.

Videl sighed as she watched him smile. It was no longer an apology that was so unnecessary, but a thanks. A parting gift, that smile. She wished that it wouldn't take so long for him to overcome everything that was on his shoulders. But she knew a person like him must have had an interesting life. Tough decisions are part of those interesting lives people sometimes have.

Once she realized that he might have had the decency to fly her into the city, she gave a sarcastic 'hmph!' and started a meandering walk in the general direction of her home.

-*-

High above and atop the closest mountain, Piccolo wasn't surprised that, in his fit, Gohan hadn't noticed him or Krillin.

"Looks like he's got an admirer now, eh?" Krillin ribbed the big Namek.

"He's been needing someone like that for a while."

"Yeah, but he's still having trouble. I'm glad Chi-chi asked us to watch him today, since we got to find out that," and this part he sing-song called into the mountains so that it echoed, "Gohan's got a girlfriend!"

Piccolo lightly punched the obnoxious short dude in the shoulder. "What if she hears you, fool? Can't you see how fragile their relationship is?"

"Don't worry. Voices in the wind and all that." Krillin smirked. "He looked so much like Goku from up here." Now he was getting wistful.

"No he didn't.

"Okay, so maybe it was just the uniform playing tricks on my eyes. But have you seen Goten lately? That kid isn't just gonna be the spitting image of Goku, he's gonna be the next Goku!"

"Maybe. I'm more worried about who Gohan is going to be."

"You always worry about Gohan. When will you let up? Everything'll be alright in the end."

"Optimist."

"Pessimist."

"Short."

"Green."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot about your sensitive side, heh. I was thinking about that girl, Gohan really scored!"

"She was stronger than you. By far."

Krillin grumbled, "Everyone's stronger than poor little Krillin. Damn asexual Namekian, can't appreciate a good woman when..."

"I heard that."

"I refuse to be instigated." He crossed his arms and tried to sound indignant.

"Yeah, right."

-*-

Gohan landed on his balcony and strode in like he had every right to be there. His world was a little different, and he decided that for once he wasn't going to spend March twenty-sixth moping or fighting. At least, not the rest of it.

A good shower in his rather small bathroom proved a needed change. A shower always gave Gohan a fresh perspective. Made him feel like he was new, able to take on any day of the week.

Looking at his bed as he changed, Gohan thought that a nap would probably be nice. But who wants to curl up on top of some nice, cool, fresh linens when you can talk to a Saiyan prince for a few hours? And a grumpy one at that! Gohan smiled. His thoughts wandered back to less than an hour ago. It was her fault that he was feeling so good.

What was wrong with him that it took all that just to let go? He'd been holding onto everything for so long. It got annoying when your mind didn't seem to be your own, when it was in the dark hands of memory and past things.

Her hair... He laughed lightly. Chortled. Because it had never occurred to him that she would smell so nice. Even if she had run all the way from the city and had been crying her eyes out and had been enveloped in dust cloud after dust cloud, she still smelled wonderful. His laugh got a little louder and stronger. This was a wonderful feeling.

And speaking of her hair, how did she fight with it so long? It had never occurred to Gohan during the two actual fights he had witnessed with her participation, but it was almost poetry in motion as she found the rhythm that allowed her hair to sweep at just the right angle to look warrior-like as she kicked the crap out of some guy.

He laughed again. She was a work of art herself. And he happened to find himself an integral, intimate piece of the puzzle that was her. Gohan wondered if she had ever seen it that way, that she had a place in him and he had a place in her.

With a smile on his face, the learned warrior gave his blue on gray appearance the once over and strode out the front door of his apartment.

-*-

Videl made it through the anniversary of her mother's death by spending the day in the park. She suspected that her knight in shining ki was right outside of her special grove, but she could barely sense him. His power was pushed down below that of an insect. It was incredibly hard for him, of course, and Videl being Videl was able to tell how great his store of power was, but that was the point at which she made the decision to stop chasing him until she herself could master that power.

So that was what she did. Just the other's presence in the school building sometimes made up for all that fun they had, though it'd only lasted a single month or so. When the end of the year came, Videl found herself surrounded by people who didn't know a single thing about her, but thought that they were close friends. They probably considered Videl as lucky to be included in whatever it was they were always talking about. One of the greatest problems had been that there was no one her age in any of her classes, Videl having skipped a grade, but another was that she just didn't find anyone who was like her. No one who enjoyed books in their free time just because of the wonderful worlds they present. Only weaklings who liked to pretend strength instead of achieving it through effort. No one who enjoyed fighting as an art to be mastered in training the body and the soul. Just guys who tried to act tough. No one so depressed that they hid in either of her two favorite things to do. Except maybe that one special person with the jet-black hair that happened to turn gold when he thought he needed to be an uber-powered superhero.

So, Videl left for the summer at the end of May with the feeling that she had survived in the least, and even proven that odds can be beaten. Two thousand kids at her school and there was no one who she had encountered that was similar to her.

Summer wasn't too memorable, either, except for a single occurrence.

About the second week of vacation, she was wandering the streets in search of inspiration for her latest literary work, when she happened upon a large sign that said 'SCPD Fighting Championship Finals Today, Free/Open Registration For New Participants, All Capable Fighters Urged To Apply'.

It took her a few minutes to reach Bulma's, which was closer than her house at the moment, to grab a fighting gi.

She hadn't done this sort of thing in a while, and she just wanted to see if anyone might be even close to her if she lowered her power to their level or below. It had taken a lot of training, and she still wasn't able to suppress it to normal levels, but Videl was able to lower her power immensely. And her ability to sense powers was easier to ignore once she started trying to focus on the physical.

So she tried it, and found that her style was all she needed on the indoor arena's floor. Speed, strength, they weren't everything. And since she had long since learned how to counter all of her father's would-be protogés, it was even easier. Too many of them had appeared since the Cell Games.

The Cell Games. She hadn't thought about that subject in a long time, mostly just dwelling on her father's present fame. There was something nagging the back of her mind. Something to do with that gold-

Dodge, crunch. Easy as pie. And even pie was sometimes hard to make.

"Congratulations, Contestant Satan! You have reached the finals."

Videl focused a little harder and pushed her ki down to levels below the fighter she was up against. He looked familiar. Maybe he was with her dad the last time they had seen each other.

Dodge, strike. Down.

"Congratulations, Videl Satan, you have proven yourself as the most capable fighter in this room for the Police Officer's special defense unit."

What?

"Please step down to receive your certification."

She did.

"Just sign here..."

"No thank-you. I didn't understand that this was the award. I'm sorry."

They looked crestfallen. She had knocked out so many fighters who were supposedly years and years beyond her, and then she refused a police commendation?

She hurried through the crowd and the lights and the officers staring at her thinking she might be an unstoppable criminal, Videl had the feeling that this was one of those moments where universes diverged.

She sighed. Maybe it would have been some excitement. At least she could look forward to be being a junior in high school, come August.

-*-

Gohan was a little bit disappointed at first when the constant presence of the girl of his dreams ceased to be so constant and so present. Plus, not only did she stop trying to find him in an effort to hone this skill, she still hadn't used it against him. It was already the end of the school year, too.

Of course, he was signed up to take the three courses required to pass tenth grade during the summer. All of the others were just to pass high school in general and to aid in the career choice. He was planning on just taking a few dozen tests or whatever they wanted in order to prove that he didn't need to take the classes. His first year had been a little... boring. Plus, he had only made some rather general friends. No one to hang out with, to eat lunch with. He had chosen to go to high school, and he could beat it as easily as any other thing. Socially and educationally.

Half of his summer was going to be spent in the city, while the other half was going to be in practicing with Goten and just connecting with the kid. The little guy was getting a whole lot better and he was going to turn five years old. That was how old Gohan had been when Piccolo first took him off into the woods. He had only been studying basic algebra back then. Oh, what a childhood.

It passed like a breeze. There was only so much time in the hourglass. Thoughts of a certain black-haired girl probably helped it along, too. Gohan was waking up on the first day of school in stark anticipation. He was sure, absolutely sure that this would be a good day. Just one of those days where you wake up feeling content and trusting in the way the world works.

His walk to school seemed brighter than usual, every tree so visible _alive_ under the summer-morning sun. It was reassuring, that everything was still going great.

Gohan reached the three hundred hallway where his first class was supposed to be. There was about ten feet between him and the door, number three-oh-three, when he found his arms shaking. His senses were telling him something. Something that was making him unconsciously nervous. All of his training served to allow him to calm himself and ignore the problem.

The room was like all of the others: college style, with the floor sloped up towards the back. Stopping at the door, Gohan realized that every person in the room was at least two years older than him. That might be a problem when he tried to connect with some of these people. Of course, his interests were a little different anyway, and he had already had some experience with the older kids in last year's advanced placement classes.

Then, all of this strange, uncalled for nervousness came to a head and made his stomach churn a bit. Not wanting to be disturbed by anyone, he pushed down his power. Most people were really able to sense it, just that it was a subconscious thing. While he was laying his head on his arms, his thoughts actually caught up with his psyche and he stretched out the invisible feelers of energy sensing. Gohan gasped and shot upright. He slowly turned around.

There was a strangely attractive black-haired girl sitting behind him. Strangely because her beauty was beneath her purposely unattractive hairstyle and overlarge clothing that changed her appearance. Yet, he knew. It was her. It had to be. Was it? She had mastered the ability to lower her power level, he realized, and Gohan had never been worried before. Plus, he'd had the whole summer to forget. And she looked nothing the same as he normally saw her. Was this the part of her that she showed to school?

Suddenly, the girl looked up and noticed his gaze. She tilted her head slightly to the side and said, "I know you from somewhere, don't I?" Odd-angled pointy black hair made her think of someone...

He coolly said, "No, I don't think we've met. But did you skip a grade, too? You don't look as old as everyone else either."

She blinked and looked at him, realizing that he was only as old as her. "Yeah, I did. It's good to see someone my age. Last year, there was no one at all."

"Last year was just as bad for me; no one was in the same classes because I went for AP in almost everything."

"Doesn't sound very fun."

"Um... It's nice to meet you." Before he could think he had stuck out his hand. He felt geeky. "I'm Gohan," he said with a weak smile.

She shook his hand warmly and her smile seemed to light the room. "I'm Videl."

---|=||\|


	6. Chapter 5

Tamashii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777

Author's Notes:

                Man, posting that note made me feel guilty. So I put all the effort I possibly could into this thing, and in just *two* days I got it to twice normal length. Screw English, screw Science! I'm smart enough, dammit!! *chants* Blessed be my DBZ... Hey- it rhymes. Don't blame me for this senselessness, though. It's one in the morning(One in the damnable morning and on a school night!! *growls* :) No no no, BIG smile! :D Yeah, that's the ticket! Hey, where's your nose off to? :-D Oh lookie! Joy! Garblefunk on your Belgium! I swear! Mmm... Belgium...

                Else: If you ask me questions in a review, please include your email or send the q in a mail. Ya know, if I have your addy you can be mailed when I post the newest chapter too;)

**Chapter Five**

_Inspiration comes from within, they say._

_Inspiration comes from others, they whisper._

_Inspiration comes and goes, they exult._

_But I know what inspiration is._

_When you can stop, and find that moment where_

_nothing else speaks to you,_

_then the voice can bring its secrets to light._

_Perhaps you can listen as well._

-"Touch"

Author Unknown

_I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people:_

_that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other._

-Rainer Maria Rilke

_Love needs no words, _

_Love makes you smile, _

_Love is all there is, _

_Forever I'll love you, _

_If you will love me, _

_Till forever and a day. _

-Unknown

(Chain letter)

                "This is weird."

                A fact.

                "Yes." 

                An honest answer.

                "Hm."

                Curiosity.

                "Are you okay?"

                Concern.

                "Yeah, just thinking."

                They continued down the hall away from the first class of the day.

                "First period wasn't very fun," Gohan yawned, covering his gaping mouth with a hand.

                "I almost fell asleep three times."

                "Good thing I was there to wake you up."

                "Don't you dare smile, those paper footballs hurt."

                "Really?"

                "Even if they didn't, that wasn't very nice."

                "I needed to work on my aim."

                "Seemed dead-on to me. Stop smirking. I swear, how do you do it? It's like this little half-smile that isn't a smile. Stop it. You're pissing me off."

                A feeble attempt to hide it. "Sorry."

                "Now you're laughing. What's so funny?"

                "Hiding my smirk."

                "There. That's an honest smile. I like that one."

                "I aim to please." Gohan mock-bowed.

                "Where's your second period again?"

                "Three-oh-one. Are you following me, or are you just going in the same direction?"

                "That's odd."

                "What?"

                "That's my second period, too."

                "So, what's the probability of two students of the same age, having advanced to the same above-average grade level, having the same first and second period?"

                "Not bloody likely."

                "I like your accent."

                "Thank you. I don't practice it much."

                "Who's your third-period teacher?"

                "Gutin."

                "This is... wierd. Maybe we have the same birthdays, too."

                Videl got a daring look in her eye. "October eighteenth."

                "Twenty-first."

                Eyebrows raised.

                "Fourth period?"

                "I want to be surprised."

                "I don't like surprises much."

                "Neither do I. But it's even worse when surprises are spoiled."

                "I guess. I don't get many surprises. Are you talking about good surprises or bad surprises?"

                Videl took her eyes from the floor tiles to look at Gohan's face. He was already looking at her. 

                "'Expect the worst, hope for the best'," Videl quoted, still staring into his eyes.

                "'I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist', eh?"

                Looking around, Videl decided to change the subject. "Where is this room?"

                "The three hundred hallway I would guess."

                "I can't remember too well."

                "Right around this corner."

                "Hm."

                "It might be my fault, but you being sad is making me sad."

                "I'm not sad."

                "It's a generalization for negative emotion."

                "Why do you think I'm sad?"

                "Intuition. No, it was the look in your eyes for a moment there."

                "Oh. Well..."

                "I'm sorry?"

                "It's nothing you did."

                "Touchy subject, surprises."

                "No, just that it made me think about my dad."

                "Ick. My father's my soft spot, too."

                Words weren't needed to cut the conversation off at that point.

                After third period they finally got to talk again, on the way to lunch.

                Videl was glad to be out of the classroom. "She was like a hawk."

                "I don't think that guy cares about his students. So which was worse, second or third?"

                "I wonder if we'll get a good teacher."

                "Do you want to eat lunch together?"

                "Why wouldn't I? Bu-" at this point they had reached the lunch room, but one in a gaggle of girls suddenly grabbed Videl out of the crowd and started talking in a loud voice.

                "C'mon Vi, I haven't seen you for two years! Oh my _gawd!! This is so amazing, but I don't have any classes with you though, so I want you to meet all of my cool friends!" The girl must've been off her ritilin._

                Gohan could only stare as Videl, to her horror, was being dragged to the left lunch line. He smiled and she glared back. Except that a minute later the entire room was swarmed as everyone who was in 'A' lunch made it to the cafeteria. Gohan got stuck next to two guys who included him in their conversation even though he honestly had no idea what they were talking about. One of those music groups everyone seemed to be obsessed with. Or maybe some sport.

                They were already sitting when Gohan realized that one of those guys, who Gohan vaguely recalled as being 'Jim', was doing his best to get Gohan's attention.

                "Whoa, man, have you been listening at all? That's like, what, twenty minutes? It's lunch, man. You don't need to focus so hard. You might get a brain tumor or something."

                "Hello?"

                "What's he staring so hard at?" The other guy tried to look from Gohan's angle. He found himself staring at a girl in a corner who looked to be surrounded by friends. He recognized her instantly.

                "Videl Satan? _Satan, man? She's, like, untouchable, man. Way out prude, man. Why are you obsessing?"_

                This snapped Gohan out of it. "Satan?"

                "You know, father's the savior of the world and all that," the other guy said sarcastically. His huge forehead and long blonde hair gave the impression of sheer arrogance. A good impression.

                "Satan?" Gohan repeated.

                "Where have you been? Last year she was, like, so hot on the first day that a bunch of my pals tried to ask her to go somewhere. Some guy beat them up for our troubles. We figured it must be her bodyguard, so no one messed with her. I tried asking her on a date like three times, but each time she blew me off like I was a piece of trash. One day, though. One day... Maybe if I ask her again this year, she'll have realized how much she wants me." Jim's friend kept going on and on and on.

                For the first time, Gohan really looked at these two clowns and the guys clustered around them. He could still see the mark where his fist had changed the direction Jim's nose bent. Not the best in choices for friends. How did they meet? How did this guy know him? They looked like body-builders or something in muscle-shirts that showed off their arms. Both were Gohan's age, and probably looked down on him because of his lanky frame.

                It didn't matter what they thought, really, about him or Videl. Gohan wouldn't sit with them tomorrow. There was a chance that Videl wouldn't want to sit with those uber-kewl 'friends' of hers.

                He'd noticed that she wasn't really paying any attention to the blonde blabbing away at her. Just nodding, and occasionally flashing a smile. Gohan decided he might as well get her out of it if he wanted some intelligent conversation for the rest of lunch. In the middle of Jim's sentence Gohan stood and walked away, throwing his trash in the bin and slowly approaching Videl's table. Unbeknownst to the half-saiyan, Jim and Sharpner were staring open-mouthed at him as he did what they held to be the impossible.

                Videl had her back to him so her only warning was the sudden whispers surrounding her. "Hottie alert!" "But he looks like a geek." "Incoming babe!" "He walks like an athlete!" "Oh my god, he is so _cute!!"_

                "Videl?" Gohan leaned against the table between Videl and the girl next to her, casting his shadow over the black-haired beauty. She looked up from the last bite of her sub (hero, hoagie, whatever it pleases you to call it) and was happy to see Gohan ready to save her from the drudgery of all this girl talk. Not that she had anything against it, just that she was usually deeper than most. Just an eensy weensy bit.

                Videl's smile turned into the smirk she disliked so much on Gohan's face. Eventually, Gohan would find out that was bad sign. "Oh, hi Gohan! I know we have to go, but I _so want you to meet my awesome friends! This is-" And she talked and talked until every girl in the group was whispering about Gohan._

                On the way to fourth hour, "I can't belive you did that to me."

                "Oh my _gawd!! You mean you didn't have any fun? I thought it was a riot."_

                "Ick. Want to sit together tomorrow?"

                "Surely."

                "Were they normal? That clique, I mean."

                "No, they were airheads."

                Gohan rolled his eyes, then became serious. "What's 'normal' like?"

                "Scary."

                "Probably."

                "Just imagine- no. That's not very fair to the normals, is it?"

                "I'm glad I'm not normal."

                "Me too."

                After a few seconds of silence, "Where do you want to go?"

                "How about the library? My stock of books is running low again."

                "You read a lot?"

                "I wonder if I should reply with a sarcastic comment."

                "You read a lot."

                "Yeah."

                "Me too."

                "What do you read?"

                The conversation soon turned into a discussion of some fantasy series they had both just read, but the topic kept flying in different directions. It ended with empiricism as they sat down in their fourth period class. Language.

                "I hate her."

                "Hate is such a strong word... I loathe her in her ignorance."

                "Why is it inevitable that people who honestly know how to read and write-"

                "Without too much effort," Gohan interjected.

                "-because they care at all about writing, always come in conflict with the teacher? Can't anyone accept that every established language has so many forms..."

                "No. There has to be a right way and a wrong way."

                Videl hmph'd.

                Soon the setting changed to fifth period.

                "First, second, third, fourth, and now _fifth? This is our second elective together."_

                "Shh, he's looking."

                The teacher paused in his monologue in an attempt to catch everyone who wasn't paying attention, to punish them with some embarrassing thing they shouldn't be able to solve. Of course, the majority of the class was asleep behind their textbooks, and no one left over could stand listening for very long.

                "That makes two who can't hold anyone's attention."

                "And two that have eyes like eagles."

                "Plus fourth, who cares about her students less than any of the others so far."

                "Hm."

                "It's gonna be like this the whole year."

                "This isn't good."

                "No."

                The minutes dragged by. It was torturous. Cruel and inhumane. Even reading the textbook couldn't make it go by any faster. But it did end, as all things are expected to.

                The silence between Gohan and Videl on the walk to their last period spoke of comfortable relief. Once they reached room eight-oh-two, they stopped. Lots of people were around them and streaming out the door. In each other's eyes they saw weariness. This day wasn't worth the time spent on it, and repetition was the only thing to be looked forward to.

                Sixth period was loud. It was one of those required courses that second-year students had to take, and the students around them were people who Gohan was supposed to be able to relate to. He couldn't talk with Videl because a swarm of the girls from lunch had surrounded her again. He sighed, and just felt glad that she didn't drag him into it. Sorry for her, though. It was too nice of her to spend time with them.

                The teacher walked in and sat down at her desk on the floor of the room. Like almost every other classroom, this one sloped up so that the teacher had a view of every student. 

                She began yelling out names for attendance, receiving a response for each out of a storm of sound. It seemed impossible, sometimes. Gohan put his head down. He just wanted the day to be done with.       

                Work was put on the board, some reading from the textbooks that were in every desk and a few questions. Other than that, more conversation.

                Gohan was half-asleep, fifteen minutes before the final bell, when the girl to his left turned to him and started talking. Amazing how she could talk. She never seemed to breathe. When Gohan turned his attention to the actual words coming out of her mouth, he realized that she was the one who had first recognized Videl. E-something. Her name started with an 'E' Gohan was sure.

                If she knew Videl from, what, two years before? That was eighth grade, right? Had she advanced like Videl? No, couldn't be. She had to be in tenth grade then.

                'Smile and nod' was all Gohan could remember to do. Looking past the girl, he found an unmolested Videl staring at him silently. Gohan tried to plead with his eyes, but was sure it only made Videl's smile grow.

                "You made a new friend."

                "Sure did!" Gohan sounded tired, though he tried to pump sarcasm into his words.

                "Her name is Erasa."

                "How long did you know her?"

                "Something like three years."

                "Where did you go to school before?"

                "It was an all-girls school. What about you, Mr. asocialite?"

                "Home-schooling."

                "Really?" she was almost incredulous. "Makes sense, though."

                "Yeah. Way too much work, though."

                "You survived, at least. Sort of."

                That made him laugh. "'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'?"

                "Can I come to your house?"

                "I live in an apartment."

                "I thought you said your family lives outside the city."

                "I live alone."

                That made Videl look down at the sidewalk. "Me too."

                Gohan empathized. He said nothing. With her father who he was, she must be swarmed by people, all who wouldn't care an ounce. Loneliness in a crowd is a horrible feeling.

                "Actually..."

                "What?"

                "Can I go over your house tomorrow? I-"

                "Of course. Can I walk you home then?"

                Videl blinked. "Of course. I guess, if we're going to be such great friends and all, we should know where the each other lives."

                "Who said we were friends?" Gohan said in a joking voice with a smile and his face all scrunched up in a tough-guy act. He shouldn't have, though. It was a little... disconcerting. On seeing her eyes he put a hand on her arm in alarm. His own eyes had gone wide with worry. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

                "For what," Videl croaked.

                Gohan blinked back some dust that had gotten in his eye and formed some words. "I shouldn't have joked... I forget how important words are sometimes."

                Both recognized their pain in the other. Extending a hand, the sheepish warrior said, "Hi, I'm Gohan. Will you be my friend?"

                Videl looked up with a tiny smile. That was almost scary. It shouldn't have been important. But there was something about this guy that was different. Right. Familiar somehow... And on the inside she was scared of losing that.

"Well hello. I'm Videl," she said and shook his hand with a laugh. There was still dark in her eyes, but memories sometimes did that. Gohan was sure his own eyes had the same look. He wished he could take back what he had said, even if it was only in jest.

                He wanted to hug her. To hold her. He felt like crying because she was so obviously hurt and he couldn't do anything about it. Because she hadn't even realized that he was 'that guy with the golden hair'. Although, Gohan didn't know that she was certain that 'that guy' had black hair.

                Feelings seemed to gloss over when she led him down the street he normally took and surprised him. He commented about this, asking why he never saw her. She told him that there had been a little trouble at the beginning of last year, and she had deigned to take a different route. Now she figured it would be all right.

                Gohan wasn't really amazed at all by her mansion, but the fact that she felt all alone in a place like that...

                "Gohan, quick!" Videl grabbed his arm and pulled him down a sidestreet with a force and speed that would have broken the wrists of lesser men. However, that wouldn't be remembered until later.

                "What is it?" He was just a tad worried why she would suddenly run like that.

                Peeking around the corner she said, "My father is home."

                "And?"

                "Look." She seemed annoyed.

                "Oh." The guy was surrounded by reporters. He would probably get Videl in the center of that mob, and that didn't look like fun.

                Looking back at Videl, they sighed together. Then they both laughed.

                "That offer to come to my place is still open..." In Gohan's mind that sounded a little perverted, but Videl didn't seem to hear it that way.

                She looked out of the alley like she was looking at something in the distance. "I had wanted to go to the Briefs' compound-"

                "Bulma's place?"

                "You know her?"

                "You could say that." The word 'Namek' flashed in Gohan's mind.

                "Well I don't need to go today. It's just that I don't get to use this one machine they have that often anymore. I got this sudden urge to go there."

                "Which machine?" Gohan was curious.

                Videl almost got defensive, but said, "The gravity room." She seemed embarrassed, for a reason she didn't know herself.

                Gohan didn't bat an eye, saying "My house is that way," he pointed.

                Videl didn't leave room for a second thought. She gestured and said, "Lead on."

-*-

                It suited him, Videl thought.

                The plush carpet felt good under her feet as she lay next to the couch with her feet propped up.

                The apartment was a reflection of its lone inhabitant.

                Videl had been able to tell that Gohan was a little worried on the way over here, probably wondering if she would like it or would be bored or some stupid thing, but looking around for a second, the bookshelves had immediately struck her fancy. Strangely, most of the books were a perfect compliment to her own; all the books were ones she was missing from most of her favorite series. And he didn't have books that she knew she owned.

                So here she was reading on the carpet while Gohan was typing up something. After the first three times he had asked if she wanted anything, Videl had practically bitten his head off. He'd smirked and shrugged in response, not saying a word since.

                Walking over to him on her knees, she lied down so that she was flat on her back, but able to see both Gohan's face and the screen.

                Videl could see that he was uncomfortable in that chair, but something else seemed to pull at the corners of his eyes. They were focused on the screen, on the words he was writing.

                Videl saw that on one side was a list of works, stored on the Desk itself, while the other side was a window for a message board post. It was a poem, as opposed to the lengthy things that seemed to be on that list.

                She ran it through her head again and again:

                Lost never, never broken; Song so sweet, caught in the rapture of the light of your eyes;

                Moonlight on your cheek; Love's call is like the tide's, yet I fight;

                No strength is so great; How do I prevail?; Am I lost, am I

                And that was what he had so far. Videl was moved. It made her think of her own stories, somehow. Just the way it seemed to cry out that undefinable emotion so like desperation and confusion, but not them at all. She didn't wonder who he was writing about, though. All of the art of writing was seeing yourself as the shell, looking out across the world under different spectrums of light, different perspectives.

                And still Gohan worked, even as she stared at the way his brow creased ever-so-slightly as he typed the next word, then the next. One at a time, then it picked up speed, then it stopped. It was interesting to watch instead of actually writing, Videl thought.

                Seeing that he probably wouldn't want to be disturbed, she retreated to his room. She still hadn't been in there and felt a curiosity about this silent poet.

                What did she know about him? He was intelligent. He could be funny. He had been hurt. He was strong. She could only guess, but when he wasn't feeling self-conscious she noticed his power rising considerably. He would have had to master the technique to suppress your level in order to do that. So she guessed he knew something about fighting, too. Something was plaguing the back of her mind like a hive of bees, but she wasn't sure what it was. Something...

                Looking around, she found that this room spoke more of being Gohan's than the rest of the apartment put together.

                A world map on the wall, some framed pictures of starships that might have been hand drawings but were so good it was hard to tell. The bed was a little bit messy, as one would expect on the first day that a guy was required to wake early after two months. A desk with scraps of paper all over, pinned up, post-it notes stuck on the sides, each with something on it, scribbled unlegibly. Videl felt bad right after she did it, but found the top drawer of his desk filled with manilla folders, each holding works that read at top 'by Gohan Son'. The second held a bunch of materials; paper, graph paper, empty notebooks, construction paper. The third was all magazines, _Newsweek, __Time, __Discover, and other stuff like that. Respectable stuff. Political magazines._

                By the bed was a clock/radio with an LCD display that was large enough that it could be read a hundred feet away. Looking around again, Videl felt angry at herself, but also felt that she hadn't gotten what she'd come for. Not the books, probably his favorites, she'd passed by those. Not his poems and stories in his desk. Nothing like that. Just something about him that she wanted to know. It was disconcerting.

                For all that, she just gave up. Videl lied down on Gohan's bed, as comfortable as her own. Probably moreso because it didn't bring to surface memories of the nightmares.

                The ceiling caught her eye. The ceiling was strange. Warm. Videl felt as though she could do this for the rest of the day. Just laze away in thought.

                She didn't notice time pass by swiftly, until twenty minutes later Gohan opened the door slowly, finding Videl staring up in the way that had become so familiar to him in the past year. It was odd, finding someone doing that where normally you would find yourself.

                He padded in silently, even using a bit of levitation to sneak up on her from the left. Kneeling down so that he could put his elbows on the bed, he broke the silence with, "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?"

                Videl jumped a foot in the air, then looked frantically over at him. "Please don't do that! I'm so used to knowing where people are around me..."

                "Don't worry, I do that a lot, too. I like my ceiling."

                "I like it, too."

                Silence fell for a minute. Then, "What were you thinking about?"

                "Nothing much..."

                "C'mon."

                "Strange things. Well, not really strange, just about life in general. The future. Tomorrow."

                "It's a school day."

                Videl gave him a look. "and friendship..." she finished.

                The silence fell again.

                "How was your poem?"

                "Poem?"

                "I read part of it."

                "What did you think?"

                "Beautiful. I don't write so much poetry, myself."

                "Thank you. What do you write?"

                "Short stories. Romance stuff."

                "Another thing we have in common. This is really strange." He opened his top desk drawer and looked through the folders. His eyes lit when they saw the title of one and he handed it to her. "Read this tonight. Please."

                She was reluctant, and felt bad that she had snuck around when he was so free about things, but took it. Videl had to remember the book she wanted to borrow, too, before she left.

                "Wanna talk?"

                "About what?"

                "Give me a second... How about... Faith."

                "Why faith?"

                "I think it might be interesting."

                "Okay. What is faith?"

                "Faith is when... you trust in something without proof."

                "That's why religions are called 'faiths'."

                "Yeah."  

                "So what about faith?"

                "What do you think of faith?"

                "I think that it's an interesting concept. I have faith in love," her eyes met Gohan's for a second. "Faith in the soul. Faith in the fact that we do exist, that the proof of everything we don't take on faith really is proof. I guess."

                "Why did you say 'I guess'?"

                "To defend myself against my answer."

                "Everyone does that too much. I do that too much."

                "If you don't, then you're considered a know-it-all. Or a quack."

                "Anyways, what if I said that faith is stronger than knowledge?"

                "You? Don't you know too much to be allowed to say that?"

                "Seriously."

                "Okay, seriously... Hmm, how?"

                Gohan yawned. "Faith can create."

                "Faith is trust."

                "Okay... I mean, if I imagine that there is a flame in my hand and I can see the flame, then does the flame exist?" He held his hand out to emphasize his point."

                "That's just visualization."

                "What if my hand begins to get warm? Logic says that it must be blood rushing to the capillaries in my hand, but why would they do that unless they believed that there was a reason for the heat? So I must be doing it myself. And that means that belief in the flame made my brain try to create the heat with blood and that faith can change something in my body that I don't have control of normally."

                "That angle makes sense. But faith didn't create. It controlled."

                "It caused."

                "I suppose. Where did all this come from?"

                "I dunno. Just occurred to me."

                "Interesting. So if I have faith that I can, say, fly, then what about my suicidal jump from the seventh floor?"

                Gohan smiled. "Wouldn't that just be evidence that you don't have enough faith?"

                "Argh?"

                "I concur."

                Videl laid her head back down on the pillow.

                "That was fun."

                "Yes."

                "I have faith that it was fun."

                "What did I just prove?"

                "Faith does stuff."

                "It's nice to have someone to listen when I think."

                "Beats talking to yourself. I do that myself. Now you have to promise to listen next time I get an idea in my head."

                "I promise. You know what they say about talking to yourself, don't you?"

                "'It's the first sign of insanity, yeah yeah."

                "I guess we're both getting there."

                "Doesn't everybody need to be a little insane? Isn't imagining a world defined by heroes and villains and a monarchy stretching the boundaries of the real? Any imagining, I mean. There would be no creation, no belief, nothing like that if we were all 'sane'."

                "I think I know a guy who's a little bit sane."

                "Sane?"

                "Yeah, he has trouble acting human."

                "Insanity feels good."

                "Yup."

                "You know what?"

                "What?"

                "I wish I could fly."

                "Why can't you?"

                "What?"

                "Well, we just proved that not only are we both insane, but that you can do anything if you have faith. So why can't you fly?"

                "Hm. Maybe not fly, literally. That would be nice, but I think I want to because I feel chained to my life."

                "Your life is bad?"

                "It feels like a pit sometimes."

                "What brought this on?"

                "I was thinking about promises."

                "Do you believe in promises?"

                "Do you?"

                "I think that they should be kept forever, unless they aren't real or don't deserve to be kept."

                "Like if someone's life was at stake?"

                "I guess."

                "What if only they can save themselves?"

                "Then you have no responsibility, right?"

                "Sometimes... It doesn't feel like it."

                A silence filled the room. Gohan sat down in his corner chair, previously hidden by his dresser. It supported his head so that he didn't have worry about a stiff neck after leaning on his hand. Another minute passed before Gohan stood up and turned on the fan above his bed. Instantly the breeze filled the room like a strong wind. Papers on Gohan's desk fluttered around a bit, but not much.

                "Why don't you just turn on the air conditioning? To save money?"

                "No, I just like the feel of rushing air. Coldness isn't the point. It's a plus though."

                Things got quiet again. Videl was feeling sleepy, so she closed her eyes.

                "Videl?"

                "Gohan?" Videl said tiredly. She had been used to those afternoon naps for too long.

                "Can I ask you a personal question?" Gohan really didn't know what he would ask, but just wanted to talk about anything.

                "Um... What kind of personal question?"

                "Nothing perverted, I swear."

                Before she said anything more, Videl looked up at the pillow that was hanging over her forehead. There was a black hair there. A single black hair. Suddenly, the thoughts that had been nagging her were dragged to the forefront of her conscious.

                Ooh, Videl thought to herself, That was what had been screaming in the back of her mind. She grabbed for the hair.

                "Y-yes." Shaky answer. Nervousness. Realization? False hope? Or just a blind assumption? Why him? Why not anyone with black hair?"

                "Have you ever been in love?" Now this, a second after she just caught on to the fact that this guy could be who she had...

                "Once." The golden-haired guy knew what she looked like without the pigtails, which were still in. Was it Gohan? Had he recognized her? They had connected so well. Were they meant for each other, no matter the form?

                "Are you still in love?"

                "Gohan..." she looked away from him, any direction but his eyes. Not now...

                "Sorry." He looked away. "I don't know where that came from." Plus, he thought he already knew that. Well, there was reaffirmation. Unless it was some other guy... "I have an idea." His smile was bright. Gohan raised his hand so that the pinky was sticking out. "Promise me that we'll always be friends."

                She looked up at him with large eyes. Gohan could see a lot in them. Fear. Trust? How can one human being trust another? Doubt. After only one day they were promising to be friends forever? What else could there be that was already there between them?. Wasn't there always pain when you got close to someone? Except in those very special cases, very true cases. Need. There was that, too...

                Videl saw someone who she seemed to have an unspeakable, unknowable bond with. She decided to have faith in who it was who was asking her to pinky-promise something like this, the way little children did. If their hearts were going to touch ever, even if they never did, it would all start with this connection. A friendship. A true friend. No matter what love was or is or could be.

                A second after she saw his hand, she locked her pinky around his and shook it. Her smile was of the kind that could make the cluster of a thousand stars at the center of the galaxy seem dark.

                Rather sleepily, Gohan asked Videl, "Do you want to go home?"

                Rather sleepily, Videl said to Gohan, "No. But it's already five something and I'm gonna fall asleep. I shouldn't fall asleep here."         

                "I guess not. Will your father be there?"

                "No. I would bet he's at dinner with a bunch of his know-nothing ego-waxers. They get to say they trained under him, he gets to believe that he's on the level of a god. An object of worship, a-"

                "Shush. You're tired enough to babble, so I think we should get you home. Good thing it isn't far away."

                "Okay," Videl mumbled.

-*-

                Bathtubs are great places to cleanse the body and the soul. Lose yourself in my bubbles, child, they cackle like an old crone out of a fairy tale. Gohan's mind easily turned from thoughts he didn't want to think, about how bad the classes themselves had turned out, lunch with those guys and then all of those girls. Videl's dad and his problems. His mind went to Videl.

                She had just started talking, half-asleep, on the way there. "'Vi' Erasa had called me," she would say. "I hate when people tried to shorten her name. Plus, I hadn't been able to figure out what the conversation was about most of the time. And that one red-head kept acting so superior..." Stupid, miscellaneous memories.

                Once they'd reached the mansion, Videl got the gate open and led Gohan to her part of the house as best she could. Honestly, she was awake, but unconscious. Videl hugged him, making some garbled noise that was probably 'thank you', then fell on her bed, dead asleep.

                Boy, that was nice hug. Boy, what a beautiful girl. Boy, I'm head-over-heels, aren't I? Gohan sank into the bubbly, warm tub and let happiness flow over him.

                That was a weird thought about faith. I hope we do that often. I hope she does it more often. We can understand each other. Even if it feels like a rant, we can be free when we talk. No worries about how they will take it, or how well they grasp it. Gohan's mind began to drift aimlessly, dancing around images of his new friend.

-*-

                Videl woke with a start.

                Three in the morning.

                She stood up, feeling woozy for a few seconds, but her body adjusted quickly. Videl had good night-vision, too, so in just a second she noticed that Gohan had left his book and the folder on her dresser.

                She went to the bathroom for a sip of water from the tap, then sat down on the floor in front of her bed. It had been a good day. She had made a new friend. Or maybe found an old one. Sort of.

                Videl rested her head against her bed. She tried to doze a bit, but found that she was too awake for that. Her day was going to be thrown off, now. Exercise might help. Or it might not. Videl stood and grabbed Gohan's story, idly scanning the first page.

                "Burning Stars by Gohan Son"

                "'They are not small gold objects but endless fire.' Does anyone..."

                It caught her up and she couldn't stop reading until the end, forty pages later. Even then, she wanted more. Gohan had written this. This was such a... delicate thing. Only words of course, but so specially chosen. Right after reading it she felt as though a single word less and the story might not have been as powerful as it was. Good stuff.

                All of his writing that she had seen so far was good. Short burst of inspiration can lead to the best of places. What else could she say about it? How about, 'I want more'?

                Videl lied down on her bed again. She was too into Gohan's story to focus on the book he'd lent her, so she tried to follow the thoughts that kept recurring in her mind. Memory snuck up on her and she dug into the pocket of her long-shorts. The hair was there. Bulma would do a DNA comparison for her, wouldn't she? And then she wouldn't have to worry about finding him again. What a thought. She thought she was far too excited to sleep, but as soon as her eyes closed, she was out like a light.

-*-

                Surprisingly, the second day of school was better than the first. Gohan waited on his balcony until he saw Videl walking by, then hurried to catch up to her.

                Almost every teacher was the same, but something was different about the whole situation, at least from Gohan and Videl's perspective. All the way through until lunch, they shared a single note whose topics ran from geology to a song Gohan's neighbor sang from her own balcony and he couldn't get out of his head.

                Lunch was a fusion of the previous day. After Gohan and Videl sat down, the girly-girls flocked to their table, but on Gohan's side a bunch of guys sat, trying to figure out how he'd become friends with Videl. Casual conversation was a little too casual for Gohan, so he politely ignored most of the guys. Some were actually in a class or two of his, so they were better than most, but he was still bored during lunch. Videl wasn't able to get a word edgewise past the screaming horde. At least they were together, though. That meant a lot, even without words. Friends were hard assets to come by, ne?

                English was way better, too. They had creative assignments that would take up two days, and they were allowed to choose their own partners. Everything was going smoothly. Fifth period didn't drag because Videl finally remembered to tell Gohan about his story, and they had a nice conversation on paper. Looking back one day, all those notes would be interesting to read.

                After school, they ventured to Videl's house. Gohan felt awkward, but enough times of Videl telling him to relax calmed his nerves. He didn't know what it was, he was just feeling jumpy.

                They talked and figured out a nice plotline for a story, thought about some 'what if' questions. Stuff like that. It was fun to talk about nothing. Before they knew it, hours and hours had passed. Gohan walked home with a bounce in his step. A bounce? No, he was just content. Happy.

                Time passed. Depending on your perspective, a month was a small amount of time or a lot of time. Gohan and Videl barely noticed it, just found that all of the creative things they did seemed better and all of the books they read got more interesting when there was someone to talk to about everything. The duo even went to a few of the football games together, and started to enjoy 'school spirit' as something more than a nuisance.

                Sharpner made a go at Videl when he got desperate, and Videl laughed in his face. The guy looked like he was ready to kill. But Videl shrugged it off, unworried when she knew that both golden-boy and herself could deal with it together.

                That afternoon, Videl had gone to Bulma's place and decided to drop by Gohan's instead of going home. When she opened the door she found Gohan's wide-eyed stare and a hand movement so fast she almost missed it, minimizing whatever he had been doing on the computer.

                "Gohan? What were you doing?" Videl laced her voice with honey.

                "Um... nothing?" Gohan gulped.

                "No, Gohan, I don't think that's the correct answer." She sat down in her chair and stared into his eyes with a smile on her face. One of the evil ones.

                "Okay, how about," his face slowly grew a grin, "your birthday present?"

                "Hey! You're no fun! I thought maybe you were looking at pornography or something perverted like that... Then I'd get to yell or something. At least make you blush. You look funny when you're embarrassed." She faked a sad expression and got up to get a drink. She called from the kitchen, "What are you doing for my birthday?" She was rather pleased. No one had really celebrated her birthday in years. Ick. Sad thoughts.

                "What? You have a birthday coming up? When is it?"

                "Gohan!" Videl walked back in as he minimized the window again. She was able to catch that it was a document, though.

                "Argh. Okay, I'll give up."

                "Good."

                "Do you want to meet my father?"

                "What?"

                "You heard."

                "Sorry, caught off guard. Why?" He waved his arm in a futile effort to gesticulate his confusion.

                "I don't know. But he's going to be home for a few days and I was just wondering. Could you believe that some guys would kill for the opportunity? I hate it. But it just occurred to me."

                "Nah. No point. If he's as bad as you say he is, then I don't see any point." Mentally, Gohan was imagining Mr. Satan from the Cell Games, only worse. Not a pretty picture. It surprised Gohan, however, that he was so easy to recall all that.

                Maybe because he'd realized it was too easy, Gohan was forced to squeeze his eyes shut to prevent a tear from falling.

                Videl noticed though, and put a hand on his shoulder. 

                'What's wrong?' went the unspoken question.

                "Just a stray thought. Don't worry."

                "Stray thought?"

                He shook his head in a gesture that said 'end it'.

                "Gohan." Her eyes got a steely glint.

                He gritted his teeth. He didn't know how to respond. Instinct said to lash out, wisdom said to blow it off, but he decided to take secret option number three: Tell the truth.

                "Just remembering my dad."

                "How'd you get there?"

                "Uh..." Ooh, corner. If he said Cell Games, she might...

                "Videl, why don't you wear your hair down at school?"

                "Habit."

                "Even though you know it's prettier down?"

                She almost blushed, but she was concerned about Gohan. "Where is this leading?"

                "I just had a memory... And if I hadn't realized how easy I can think about it, I wouldn't have gotten emotional at all. That's it." He thought that was the end.

                "That's called 'survivor guilt'. You think that you deserve the pain, so when it disappears you feel hurt. What happened to your father?"

                "I... Can we talk about this some other time? Please. Eventually I can deal with it, but it's been bottled up for five and a half years."

                "The better to get it out now."

                His eyes were silently pleading. "Videl..."

                "You'll feel better, though. Okay, how about a little at a time?"

                Gohan wasn't sure how she'd want to do that, but he nodded his head in agreement. "Okay. But what about you?"

                "I'm not hurting anymore am I?" She flinched mentally. A little guilt on her part too, it seemed.

                He looked sullen. "At least tell me?"

                She looked into his eyes and saw that he just wanted to help. It would be good for her. "I promise. But right now, you."

                "What do you mean by 'a little at a time'?"

                "You tell me whatever you want today. Or you talk about your dad or something. Then whenever it comes up you tell me a little more. Is that okay?"

                "Yeah... Well, he died. But it was in a fight. And he died because I didn't act. I could have done something before and- Do I have to do this?" He was getting butterflies in his stomach. Felt like impatience. "I just don't see the point and-"

                "You see the point. I know you do, but don't worry. That's it. Stop. Okay?"

                "Yeah. Even that much made me feel... weird. Not good."

                "Mm." They both looked down for a minute.

                Taking a deep breath, Videl said, "Well what do you want to talk about today?"

                "I... don't really want to talk. I don't think I can write, either."

                "Oh. I'm sorry."

                "It's not your fault."

                "It probably is."

                "Read?"

                "Yeah. Did you get number seven?"

                "Last night."

                "Good."

                The rest of the day was spent in comfortable silence in Gohan's room. That night, Gohan thought he might wallow in memories but instead found himself focused on Videl like most nights. Thinking to himself, he realized that if he ever told anyone that they would assume it was a sexual thing or something. Society was so... Well, he just found himself staring at his ceiling, struck by the thought that she had wanted to take away his pain. There was something about that. Something.

                And hour later he hadn't found anything new. Only the fact that he was getting to know her more deeply than ever. It might stem from the fact that spent more time together than some couples. Many already considered them an item, but the topic had never come up between the duo.

                Gohan wondered when it would. When would he be able to tell her he loved her, tell her everything. Teach her how to fly. He couldn't, not yet. It just hadn't reached that... level? Plateau? When would it, though? When could he feel comfortable introducing her to his deepest self? How about when she feels comfortable? Honestly, she was the kind of person who would do what they set out to do once they set out to do it. Hands down.

                Eventually...

-*-

                "Happy Birthday," Gohan whispered across the table.

                The room was dark, lit only by the candles of the homemade birthday cake announcing Videl's sweet sixteen.

                She was tearing up. "Gohan," she squeaked, "this is too much. All day, and then this." Her lower lip was quivering. "Gohan, do you know how long it's been..."

                "I understand." Gohan stared into the flame.

                "'Thank you' isn't enough."

                Gohan smiled joyfully. "It's all I want. Blow out the candles, c'mon. No, wait." He began to sing happy birthday in a quiet voice. "Happy Birthday," he repeated.

                Videl blew out all the candles, bathing the room in darkness. She was glad for this, because her tears had just started to flow.

                "I think I overdid the dramatic moments."

                "No, they were perfect."

                "I'd bow, but I don't want a face full of cake."

                "That might be fun..." Videl smiled through the salty rivers. She got the hiccups and they both laughed tiny laughs.

                "I'll get the lights."

                With a snap Gohan's kitchen appeared. Hercule Satan would have probably thrown his biggest party yet if he had realized that it was Videl's sixteenth birthday, but instead he had done some huge thing to embarrass himself. Nothing important, since in the face of those who know better he tends to always act like an idiot.

                After each had a slice of cake, Gohan abruptly left the room. Videl stared after him until he reappeared with something wrapped in red tissue paper. It was about an inch or so thick, so Videl was guessing it was a box.

                To her surprise, it was a story. One hundred fifty pages printed on this beautiful paper bound by a waterproof covering. It was like an amateur publishing of a book, only with so much effort put into the single copy. She loved it. "Gohan..."

                "Hm?"

                "How long did it take?"

                "Two months."

                She was incredulous. "That long? Usually, you-"

                "It's the best thing I've ever written." He blushed more than a little, and stared at the floor.

                "How do you know that?"

                "Because, I wrote it for someone," he said quietly, "I wrote it for you."

                Videl couldn't say anything. She stood and so did he. Videl stepped up to him and hugged him close, still not talking. She lay her head on his shoulder and they just stood there like that for what seemed to be forever. Best friends, secret loves, hidden in each was the hopes and dreams and thoughts of the other.

                "I guess I have to go," Videl whispered.

                "Yeah..."

                "I'll read it tonight. I promise."

                Gohan didn't reply.

                "Thank you."

                He hugged her tighter for a moment, then broke the embrace. Videl looked up at him and smiled, not one of the blot-out-the-sun ones, more like a lover's farewell under the porchlight, a single slow blink as their eyes met, and a sigh. She didn't turn away as she stepped into the hallway, but a moment later she was vanished from his home.

                "We're gonna party! Par-tee!! Wooo!" Gohan was embarrassed of the way Videl was carrying on beside him. She was going crazy. It wasn't like her usual self at all.

                They were walking to Gohan's apartment on this lazy Sunday afternoon from the grand public library on the other side of the city. It had been a beautiful day so far, and all that was missing was the smile on Gohan's face. His cheeks were flushed because of the hyperactive girl twirling beside him on the sidewalk.

                He smiled at himself. He needed to loosen up. All this uptightness felt like a costume anyways. "Woohoo," he said halfheartedly.

                Videl stopped in her excitement to give Gohan a sincere smile. When their eyes met, Gohan felt his spine tingle. Today was his birthday! Joy! Maybe he'd talk to his mother today. He hadn't called in months, and she'd always called when he was away.

                Everything was wonderful today!

                When they got home, and really Videl spent enough time there to call it home too, Videl set up some speakers she'd bought in the top corner of every wall and blasted music through the whole place. She was even singing along- louder than the music, too!

                As Videl decorated, Gohan put the cake in the oven and started on dinner. When everything was set in the kitchen, he went to help Videl. She was mostly done, but she decided to lower the music a bit so they could talk.

                "You know what Gohan?"

                "What?"

                "The one thing that was missing on my birthday-"

                "Yeah?"

                "Color! I love color! I know it might have ruined your dramatic effect, but still."

                "Humph." Gohan smiled.

                "Well, I'm gonna go back to rowdy singing and stuff. It's fun! You want to play chess before dinner? I've been practicing on the web."

                "I think I'm still going to win."

                "Ha! We'll see about that! What else do you want to do, though?"

                "I don't know."

                "Improvisation, like my day?"

                "I guess."

                "Oh, and about your present..."

                "Yes?"

                "Don't worry about it bringing you to tears. Have I told you how much I love your story?"

                "Only a gazillion times..." Gohan shook his head. "You've never talked about any one book this much. It's annoying."

                "You don't believe me Gohan, but I swear it was the best piece of literature I've ever read!"

                He let a frustrated sigh escape through his teeth.

                Videl caught the look in his eye and was thoroughly annoyed by it. She stopped her jolly decorating to walk right up next to him at her full height, look him straight in the eye and whisper, "Dammit, you really are dense. If I say something a million times it's probably the truth. Don't you know me?" She turned on her heel and began to decorate again, all signs of annoyance gone from her visage. She was even humming.

                "Well, sorry," Gohan whispered. She might have heard him, or seen his lips moving, but she didn't say anything more. He threw himself down on the couch and watched her. It was poetry in motion, the way her hips swayed slightly to the music, the way her voice carried and fell on his ears ever-so-sweetly. Gohan sighed and turned on his back to stare at the ceiling.

                Videl knew what he was feeling. So why didn't she-

                "C'mon Gohan!!" She whistled. "Here, boy! Get over here!" Grabbing his arm, she pulled him up off the couch to stand next to her. "Now listen. This is your," she emphasized her words by poking him in the chest, "_your birthday. It's no time to get depressed. So you my friend, are going to sing!" Out of the blue Videl was in hyper mode again, sugar-high time. "WOOOOOOO!" Videl pulled Gohan into a spin with her. On the way around she hit a button on the Desk that changed the song and shot the volume up a notch. And that was saying something. Really saying something._

                It was from an old anime movie. Laughing, Videl got Gohan to start singing with her in an intentional off-key voice. Of course, this happens to most people when they can't hear themselves singing over their music.

                "You can't be a hero hiding underneath your bed, got to live the life you create inside your head! So I opened the window, caught the wind one night, now I sail with the birds in their flight!!"

                It was amazing and incredible, and a whirl of color. The duo began dancing around the room at speeds they shouldn't have. Ouchies. With the bass turned up the way it was, the whole thing was a lot of fun. It lifted their moods like kites, and set the bar for the rest of the day.

                In the middle of it all, though, a face popped up on the Desk. After a moment or two, it became a surprised face, then an amused face, then two smiling faces. As Gohan and Videl passed by, a look of utter mortification passed over Gohan's face. Probably turned a different color too.

                Videl raised an eyebrow in query, but looking in the direction his eyes were pointing, she found the two smiling faces. Videl waved excitedly and quickly turned down the music.

                Laughing, Videl dragged the statuesque Gohan over and said, "You must be Mrs. Son! I'm Videl Satan!" Proudly she stated, "I'm Gohan's best friend." Her eyes twinkled.

                Chi-chi and Goten blinked, then their smiles grew. "Hello Videl. My name is Chi-chi. This is Gohan's brother Goten."

                "Hiya!" He looked so cute! Videl wanted to pinch his cheeks or something. What a strange emotion...

                Videl elbowed Gohan and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, "Dumkopf! Psst!"

                "Oh, uh, hi mom!" Gohan absently scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Um... How are you guys doing?"

                "You never called me back! You don't have time for your family anymore, Mr. Sixteen-year-old?"

                "Uh, um... Sorry? I just... get sidetracked."

                "Gohan!"

                "Mom?"

                "Happy Birthday."

                "Happy Birthday big brother!"

                Videl smiled. Gohan managed a grin. Chi-chi was happy that Gohan had found a girl. She'd been worried that he'd be too shy.

                After a ten-second silence, Gohan said, "Anything else, mom? Anything new with you guys?"

                "Nope. How's school?"

                "Boring. Something cool happened, though. Videl and me have all the same classes."

                This surprised Chi-chi. "Really?" She looked at Videl again and her opinion of the girl grew. "Well, sweetie, I'll call again soon. But first..." After the two on the line started singing 'Happy Birthday' Videl joined in, even hitting the music for the song up with the press of a button. When it was over, Gohan said goodbye again and the link closed.

                "That was nice."

                "My family is full of nice people."

                "I'd have to agree." Her smile grew when she realized her position. A flick of the wrist turned on some romantic tune, and she slipped her arms around Gohan's neck. Although a little surprised, Gohan put his hands on Videl's waist and they stayed like this for a few minutes.

                Eventually they broke apart. Without a word, both went back to what they were doing earlier.

                After an hour or so, a few games, stuff to pass the time, the food was ready. Gohan had fixed everything up, and it was great. Topped off by a fresh salad and homemade dressing of vinegar, oil, a few herbs...

                Leaning back in their chairs, the two were stuffed. Accommodating appetites like their own was hard work, but it could be done. And this was done majestically.

                "A masterpiece."

                "Urgh."

                "I'm stuffed."

                "Me too."

                "But it's a comfortable stuffed."

                "Yeah."

                "I'm tired, too... Too much jumping around I guess." Videl yawned. "And I still have to give you your present." With heavy eyelids she motioned for Gohan to stay seated. "I'll get it."

                Gohan waited a few minutes, but she still didn't show. He cleared off the table, in the hopes that she just needed time. After he took the cake out of the oven, he shut the kitchen lights and went into the brightly lit and colorful living room. Videl was asleep on the couch. She was at an odd angle, like she had just picked something up off the floor. Indeed, the bag she had brought today was there between her feet.

                In her left hand, barely held, was a teddy bear. Gohan's mind flashed back to one instance when they had gone to a mall.

                "Oh, Gohan, look."

                "Hm?"

                "What a cute little teddy bear!"

                He'd given a tiny smile. "It's nice."

                Videl looked up at him wistfully. "You know what they say about teddy bears, don't you?"

                "I might've heard it somewhere... But, no, what do they say about teddy bears?"

                "They say that if you give one to the person you love and they name it after you, then they will love you forever."

                Gohan subconsciously moved closer to Videl and felt dreamy for a second. "Mm. That's a nice thought."

                In the present, Gohan was staring at the little bear. It was gray and tan and white, hand-stitched, and very... sentimental. Gohan knew at once that he could treasure it forever.

                Picking Videl up from the couch, Gohan made way for his room. Laying her down on his bed, he stared into her face. All lines of worry and happiness were gone. Contentment shone out a bit, but that might have been her stomach smiling at dinner. Without knowing what he was doing, Gohan reached out an gently stroked her cheek with his thumb.

                "I think... I think I can tell you I love you now." His eyes hung like lead, so he slid into the queen-sized bed on the other side and fell asleep with Videl-bear held in the crook of his arm.

                Sometime in the middle of the night, Videl had rolled over and put her head on Gohan's shoulder. Wrapping her arm around his own, she had buried her face in the warmth of his neck.

                This embrace was what Gohan woke to at six in the morning. He just wanted to ignore school and stay where it was warm and sleepy, but he knew that he couldn't.

                It was pretty funny when he realized his situation, but really wasn't that big a deal anymore. He gingerly unwrapped himself from Videl. It had felt so good, though. So right...

                Gohan was glad he had forgotten to turn the living room lights on, because this time of year the dawn came later. He cleaned up the mess they had made with their merry-making the night before, and put the cake in the fridge. An afternoon snack, say.

                Waking Videl proved a daunting task. He'd done it twice before and it was never an easy thing. Yet maybe the comfy sleep had done something, because she was awake as soon as Gohan gently shook her shoulder.

                "Morning," she yawned.

                "I loved your present."

                "Mm."

                "Did you bring clothes?"

                "I left some here last time, remember?"

                "Oh yeah. Well, we'd better get going."

                "Oh man!"

                "What is it?"

                "I was going to sing a big Sinatra version of 'Happy Birthday' karoke style."

                Gohan smirked. "Why not do it tonight, anyway? It might not be my birthday, but I'd bet it's something to see."

                She feigned grumpiness and mumbled something about the dramatic effect. They smiled together.

                School was... different. Everyone else was more distant, but for the opposite side of the coin. It was as though everyone outside of the private circle had static on their line. Something had changed in the last night, the last few days.

                Before they started the trek home Videl caught Gohan staring at her.

                "What?" She decided to joke, "Is there something on my face or-"

                "Videl..." Gohan sounded serious, but more like he was committing to something.

                "Are you okay?" She put a hand to his forehead, mocking.

                "Videl." Gohan stared her straight in the eye. "I love you."

                Something in the sky seemed to catch her gaze, because she turned to stare into the blue expanse.

                "I know," she whispered almost too softly for him to hear. Then she giggled and put her arms around his neck. Into his ear she said, "I love you too, Mr. Golden-boy."

                In the darkness where neither of the two realized lovers could see nor had the will to sense, a pitiful weakling of a boy was quivering in rage. His blonde hair shivered unnaturally, swaying like silk. Turning, he put his fist into the concrete wall with all of his strength. Bloodied his fist and did minimal damage to the wall, but it didn't dispel his hate.

                "I swear," said Sharpner, "she will love me! Only me! Not some weak little smart-ass!" His eyes were wide. "No matter how..." he hissed.

---|=||\|

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	7. Chapter 6

Tamashii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777

**Chapter Six**

_I've always liked Robert Hienlien's aproach to the subject as seen in Time_

_Enough for Love-- where he defines love as a condition in which another person's_

_happyness is more nessisary to your own... but thats me ^_^ and i'm wierd ^_^_

-Moneurere, EFML

_Gohan stuck his tounge out. "So wat! It's not right for you to tell us when to kiss! We kiss when we wanna!"_

-AnimeAngelVidel

"A Picture Perfect Kiss"

_"Do you think you've built a god or something?" _

-Heero Yuy

                "So..." The walk home had been strange. Not in a bad way, just that it was different from normal. No talk.

                "So?" Videl's eyes finally met Gohan's.

                "Are you okay?"

                "Why wouldn't I be okay?" She seemed a little concerned.

                "I dunno. Something in your eyes. Anything wrong?"

                "Well... You haven't said a word." Downcast. That was the word for it.

                "I was waiting for you!" Gohan's smile returned.

                Videl released an exasperated sigh and groaned. An anime character might have sweatdropped. "That would be funny if we weren't the butt of the joke."

                "I suppose."

                They were walking like normal, now. Was that what was wrong? Gohan thought to himself. Something was supposed to be different. Or was this too soon?

                "Uh..."

                "Gohan?"

                "Hum. Talk?"

                "What do you want to talk about?"

                "How about... Existentialism."

                "Nah... I'm pretty sure I exist."

                "What if you only exist in the minds of others?"

                "That's crazy."

                "I thought that we'd consistently proved our insanity."

                "Not insane, crazy."

                "Elaborate?"

                "Non-sensical. Insanity means beyond the bounds of normal psychological behavior. Crazy means... Argh. How about saying that a guy who can turn his hair gold and fly around is insane, but doing a one-legged dance in nothing but a towel around your neck in order to make sure the sun rises is crazy?"

                "I get your point. Pointlessness. You can't argue either way. Do you want to talk about it?"

                "I was waiting until we got home."

                "What do you want to know?"

                "How, why, what. Who and when."

                "What about where?"

                "Here, silly." Videl laughed a tiny laugh.

                Gohan smiled and slipped a hand into hers. Videl took a sharp breath as he locked his fingers with hers. It felt... warm. A perfect fit. It made Gohan think of two parts of a puzzle. Meant to be. She had dragged him places by the hand before, but right now was so different...

                The silence lasted beyond the elevators and the door. Backpacks went into the bedroom. Videl took two drinks into the living room where Gohan was waiting on the couch.

                A minute passed.

                "Gohan?"

                "Mm."

                When you're ready...

                "'Kay. "I'll start from the beginning. This stuff all contributed to some inner potential that was released in the Cell Games and allowed me to kill Cell." Tears stung Gohan's eyes, but none fell.

                "So much for a little at a time, eh?" Videl's attempt to lighten the mood didn't help. "You... killed Cell? I knew my father didn't, but- This was when your father... What happened?"

                Gohan took another deep breath. "I think I want to tell the whole story."

                Videl took Gohan's hand again. Her tiny, sincere smile gave Gohan all the strength he needed.

                "I'm only half-human," Gohan began.

                Videl's smile widened a little.

                "My father was a full Saiyan, one of a race of warriors who used their anger and hate to reach new heights of power. They were under the control of a tyrant, Frieza, until some time ago. He- or she, we're not sure- sent them to planets that they ravaged and took over. Stuff like that.

                "Eventually, there was an uprising. Most Saiyans were strong, but many weren't stupid at all. My grandfather, for example.

                "Frieza destroyed their planet and the entire race in a single blast of energy. All but four were dead, none knowing the truth behind the genocide.

                Videl had a serious look on her face. But her mind went back a step and she asked, "You can use it as a weapon? I thought it was like some sort of boost for your strength or..."

                "Everyone has ki. Life energy. It's a thing that all beings have, and it can be increased in training or hidden by channeling it. It can also be used as a deadly weapon. It isn't a boost for your power, it's the measure of it."

                "I can-"

                "You used it once before. Remember that blue oaf?"

                Videl couldn't think about that night without remembering what went after the fight. But she nodded her head yes.

                "I saw you destroy him with a blast. You already know how, on the inside. Do you want to learn?"

                "Of course."

                "How about this weekend? We can go to the forest by where my family lives. A camping trip."

                "I'd like that. I haven't been camping since that one time..." Her hand moved to her locket. Gohan remembered the only time he'd ever seen Videl in a forest, five years before.

                "Well. Frieza was at the heart of new enemies from outside the solar system. My father's older brother was the first, twelve years ago. Dad died saving us from him."

                "Your dad died twelve years ago? I thought..."

                "Ooh, I forgot. You don't know about the dragonballs, do you?"

                "I've heard that legend. You find them all and make a wish, right?"

                "Did you ever believe it?"

                "I happen to be a romantic."

                "How strange. Me too."

                Videl shoved him playfully. "Don't make fun of me."

                "I'm not!"

                "Yeah, right."

                "Why don't you listen for the part of the story where my childish belief that anything was possible got hidden under layers and layers of ickyness."

                "I think I will."

                "Good. So, my dad trained under the great King Kai because Raditz had warned of the other two Saiyans now on their way to find the dragonballs. It went something like that, anyway. Piccolo, former kami-"

                "Former?"

                "He used to be two people. Long story. When his other half, the true former kami, merged with him, another one had to be picked."

                "Okay."

                "Piccolo took me into the woods at four years old and trained me to survive on my own. He claimed to have seen my hidden energy and wanted me to unlock it. I did, but not entirely until later. There was a big fight one year after Raditz died. My dad was wished back to life, then he made it back to Earth in time for the final battle. One of the Saiyans had died at the other's hand, and we were down by a few. They were wished back later."

                "So you won?"

                "Well... Dad let Vegeta go. That's why he's still alive."

                "Vegeta?"

                "I told you there were only four full Saiyans alive." He counted off on his fingers, "Goku, Vegeta, Nappa, Raditz."

                "Funny names."

                "Ya know, I always thought so." Smiles were shared.

                "The problem was that they had these communicators. And Piccolo turned out to be from another planet, too."

                "And this was bad because?"

                "Piccolo's other half, Kami, created Earth's dragon balls. Over the communicator Frieza learned this and both he and Vegeta figured on Namek for the location of the original dragonballs. We went to Namek to wish back the people who had died more than once."

                "More than once? So Earth's balls aren't all powerful?"

                "No."

                "So everyone went to Namek, some for a grand selfish wish, others for the sake of their friends? What about all the earthlings?"

                "I went. Krillin, that's dad's best friend, he went. Bulma went. Dad came along later 'cause after the fight he was badly injured."

                "You went to another planet? How unfair!"

                "Ugh. Trust me, months without a shower isn't my idea of heaven."

                "You're right. Ick. Months? So you 'sort of' know Bulma after months together on a different planet?"

                Gohan rolled his eyes. "I was a little sarcastic. I'm sorry. Anyway, there was a lot of fighting, a lot of pain and death," his eyes got a faraway look, "but in the end... In the end it was Frieza, the most powerful being in the universe, versus my dad. Everybody had already had a crack at him and no one had won. The battle went for a long time until there was no energy left in anybody. Oh yeah, Piccolo was there, too. He got wished there by the Namek dragonballs. Those have three wishes instead of one."

                "What happened then? Obviously you won, right?"

                "Well, dad used an ultimate attack on Frieza, but it didn't work. Frieza rose up into the sky and killed Krillin using a psychic attack."

                "Whoa. And everyone was at the bare nibs of their power?"

                "Not Frieza."

                "How did you win?"

                "Dad's anger got so great that he became the first super-Saiyan in a thousand years. That was what Vegeta was going to wish for, the power of a super-Saiyan. So he could defeat Frieza to revenge his people. And of course take Frieza's place."

                "Describe a super-Saiyan."

                "Um... lookie." Gohan stood up, stepped away from everything, and transformed. His hair was as long as his dad's used to be and it all spiked upward in a golden flash. Videl looked curious. What really amazed her was the speed of his power boost. It took hours for her to reach her max...

                Gohan powered down and flopped on the couch again.

                "Oh. So that's what it's called. Cool." Considering it was all I knew of you for far too long...

                "Yeah, I think so too."

                "And this transformation beat Frieza?"

                "Yeah. Except that afterwards we thought he was dead until the eternal dragon told us he was alive and unwilling to come back. Later we found that he was training under some guys who had rare techniques on hand, if not super-strength.

                "Hours before he got back, the rebuilt Frieza arrived and none of us would have been able to stop him."

                "Rebuilt? No, keep going, 'but'?"

                "Trunks appeared."

                "Bulma's kid? Don't tell me- time travel! Your biography would sell millions as a fiction story."

                "I guess. But Trunks, after he killed Frieza in a single blow, had us wait for my dad to land. We were warned about the evil androids that would come three years later."

                "And Cell."

                "No, you see, in that Trunks's timeline, three of the androids and Cell himself didn't exist."

                "So you were caught with your pants down?"

                "Plus, my dad didn't use the heart medicine Trunks brought until the middle of the fight. His death was what had sent the other timeline askew. Or kept it on the right path. Or something. Trunks only explained his world to my dad."

                "So your father would have been brought to his knees by a virus? That epidemic that went around a few years ago? My dad got a little nervous around then."

                "After Cell appeared, the two evil androids got absorbed and the third was partially destroyed. Bulma and her father rebuilt the guy. Cell let us have ten days because he wanted a good fight after facing Trunks. He was a little self-confident in his 'perfect form'."

                "Hence, the Cell Games."

                "Everyone went into the room of Spirit and Time-"

                "Explain?"

                "One Earth day is the equivalent of a year. Gravity fluctuations, infinite blinding white expanse, that sort of thing."

                "Sounds like an awesome place to train."

                "Yeah. Harsh, though. That time was when I first reached super-Saiyan."

                "Were the others super-Saiyans by then?"

                "Both Trunks and Vegeta had already reached that level. Trunks used it when he killed Frieza."

                And you, with your 'potential' power, took so long? Why was that? And when did Trunks come back?"

                "Um..." he looked confused. "Trunks returned after the first android showed. And becoming a super-Saiyan..." Gohan smiled. "It takes anger. I didn't have enough, so I focused on all my failing and let them fall on me at once. I didn't want to let everyone down, I guess."

                "And then you fought Cell?"

                "Yeah. And my father was supposed to save us. But he graciously gave up, saying that he wasn't strong enough but he knew who was. I had, without realizing it, been able to keep up with their movements. Generally, someone far enough above you in power to destroy you will be faster than you can see."

                "That was all he based it on? What happened when you were fighting?"

                "I... Cell started to hurt everyone else, except for me. It was because I told him I didn't want to kill him. I really didn't. Just didn't want any more death. It was a pointless thing to me, death."

                "He wanted to see you angry?"

                "He wanted me to reach the level my father said I could reach."

                "Beyond a super-Saiyan? And you did?"

                "I did." Gohan's eyes began to hurt. They wanted to shed tears, but now were completely dry. As dry as the eyes got, anyway.

                "This is the place where things-"

                "Yeah." Gohan sighed. "I knew for a fact, knew beyond all doubt that I was the strongest person in the universe. I had to be. The only way beyond that power was to draw on existence itself. If you really believe we exist at all..."

                "Don't go back to that, please. I want you to get this out."

                She saw what he needed. What he craved. But it was like talking through a mouthful of cotton.

                "I didn't kill him." Pause. Breath. "He got afraid."

                Videl moved across the couch and put a hand around Gohan's waist. He leaned his head onto her shoulder and stared out at the memories.

                "He tried to destroy the world with his death," Gohan whispered, like a terrible secret he could only tell Videl. She closed her eyes, unconsciously pulled him closer. Gohan relaxed when she started to run a hand through his hair.

                "Dad used his teleportation technique to move him somewhere else. King Kai's planet. Dad died." Gohan gasped a breath, tried to hold in the tears with all of his damnable power. Dad died. Dad died. Dad died. Happily chatting about the realities, the defeated enemies, the triumph of good, all just a distraction. The darkness was still there at the end of the road. Walk the road, walk the road, tell all about the past. But if you walk the road you'll reach the darkness. You must, else don't walk the road at all. Gohan's breath came in hiccups. He couldn't cry. He wasn't worthy of a tear. It was his fault. All his fault. Why did he have to do it? Why couldn't it have been different? And father's death was in vain, too!

                "Why did I kill my father?"

                Gohan cried out once, then the tears finally fell as he was wracked by sobs of despair. He buried his face in Videl's long, beautiful hair. When did she let it down?, he asked himself, Was it like that all day? Why didn't I notice? Why can't I see beyond myself? I'm so selfish. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't want to cry. I don't want to think. Why do I have to? Who's making me? Why can't I just... His tears fell harder when he felt the warm hand rubbing his back, realized that as tight as he was holding on to her, Videl was holding him so that he wouldn't leave, wouldn't leave her. I just want to die, Gohan realized. But I can't die. Because I have Videl. I have to live for Videl. I have to live.

                I love you, Videl...

                Gohan woke up feeling tired. But he also felt like he was lighter, like someone was sharing a weight with him. And together it was as nothing. A good feeling.

                Still wondering where he was, Gohan buried his face deeper into the warmth of what might have been an armpit. A nice pillow. When he yawned, Gohan realized that he was already awake.

                Videl. A blanket. They were underneath the blanket that was on the back of the couch. She was asleep and the television was on. Gohan felt sorry that she couldn't get up, knowing she had done it for him.

                He switched the TV off and was going to get up, but Videl moaned something being cold. Gohan lay back down and fell asleep again a few minutes later.

-*-

                Whose parents had left him in an alley just like this one, hoping he would die? And whose adopted family feigned care just enough to take all the money he needed to survive? Who was stepped on every step of the way to the top?

                And look at him. Good grades, great body, beautiful hair. A home life spent hiding in the room he had worked for. Every cent.

                Sharpner felt justified in running away. He had disappeared before, but this time it was for good. Definitely. No turning back, no matter what.

                Another new moon, he noticed. It was black on these streets where the lights had all been broken.

                His anger from that afternoon had fizzled, but not his determination. His rage. On the inside it burned. Happily he danced in the flames, let them consume him.

                With two of his friends, he set out for a city to the east where the largest recruiting office for the Majinn was located. Greatest gang ever brought together, far-reaching, the strongest, the best. They were like family. One person's grudge was their grudge, and one person's vengeance was their vengeance.

                Rumor had it that they were what was left of the mugging-lord 'Babidi' whose real identity was unknown. Supposedly a cultist and a murderer, but how could someone like that found a gang of ordinary people organized like an army? Sharpner asked himself.

                How, indeed.

                So there it was. The little clique of bullies made it three hundred feet from the door before they were knocked out, each by a crack to the head.

                "Who are you and what do you want?"

                "Did you hear me, asoko?! I said, 'who the hell do you think you are and what the f-"

                "Shut the hell up!" Sharpner screamed. This was the third guy they'd brought in. He figured it must be morning by now. None of these jerks would listen. After the first one, Sharpner had caught on fast. Show no weakness, don't back down. Or else they'd have an in. They'd own you.

                It had hurt. 'Ittai!' muyo. Even now, the guy was shoving his fist in Sharpner's gut.

                I'm not like the OTHER kids, my name is SHARPNER and I am STRONG!!! I am BETTER!! I have to be better, and I WILL be better. No matter how. No matter how. No matter how. I can conquer ANYTHING, any situation, any person, and especially YOU!!

                The guy walked out when Sharpner straightened his neck and closed his angry eyes. Adrenaline rush. The rope binding his hands was almost broken. His wrists stung from the open sores. Almost... Next guy who walks in is gonna get strangled. My face may be a bloody mess, but I know what I want. You don't know because I won't tell you. Not until you treat me as your equal. Or your better. I am above you. All of you.

                A child stepped into the room. He must've been twelve or thirteen. Pre-pubescent.

                He walked over to a table that appeared out of nowhere in the corner of the room. Opening a folder, he set it down next to a pen. The kid's suit was probably as expensive as any businessman's. The air of a professional surrounded him.

                "Hello. What is your name?"

                Sharpner stared for a moment, but decided that if they weren't going to treat him like a person fully, he wouldn't cooperate.

                "Maybe we should let you out of those bindings, eh?"

                Sharpner managed a bruised smirk. "Why not?"

                "Looks like you almost broke them yourself."

                "Looks like."

                "What's your name?" The kid walked over to the small table.

                Sharpner measured the kid up. He could easily beat the squat punk. Massaging his wrists for a second decided to talk straight. "Sharpner."

                "Last name?"

                "Couldn't tell ya the truth," he breathed.

                "Okay." The kid in the suit filled something in on a paper laying on the folder.

                "Who are you, then?"

                He took a moment to look straight into Sharpner's eyes with his own icy blue ones. Slowly and distinctly he said, "My name is Michael."

                For some reason belying will or strength or logic, Sharpner felt a twinge of fear.

-*-

                "Are you sure?"

                "Of course I'm sure." Michael narrowed his eyes. "He wants something so thoroughly he'll give anything to get it. He doesn't care that it's just a substitute for some kind of parental love he never received. Vengeance, Jason, is a powerful thing."

                "And a 'dish best served cold'?"

                The child-genius looked up at the pale twenty-five-year-old. "That is because... when it's hot you burn yourself as well. He is the one." Michael paused before adding, venomously, "Don't argue the point any more, Jason."

-*-

                School.

                Three fifteen-page reports from teachers who probably conspired together to hold children's lives in thrall in a vain effort to force-feed them knowledge. A science project due one week before Christmas vacation. A barrage of tests to prepare for in just a few days. Teachers catching every note for the first three periods.

                How oblivious must one be to accept such things without a passing glance? Or how about assured? As long as the other was in the room, it seemed things would be all right. Surely. And besides that fact, what mattered?

                Trivial though the problems of the day were, it was only a foundation for greater trials. One could hold his own under that burden, lift the weight, but two, two could travel the stars under that burden, carry the weight to the ends of the universe. Together... together, anything was possible.

                It wasn't bliss so much as the presence of love. Belief in an unrealized truth. In high school, you can look around in a crowd and see a dozen couples. Ask any one of them how long they're going to be together and they'll answer, 'forever'. Or something like that. Without that faith the relationship is doomed to fail. Yet it fails anyway, because it is a childish thing borne of the foolery of children. That is the way it must work, happening again and again until either it works, or faith is turned into acceptance. Acceptance that this is the way things work, the way things should be, unchangeable.

                Except that Gohan and Videl were above that. Neither had spent any time thinking about this stuff. They just knew. Knew that they couldn't deal with any false love, anything that couldn't work because life just wouldn't let it. It was instinctive for them to see the broken process through which society tells us to find love. Life, however, dealt them a royal flush. Without realizing it, they fell into their dreams before they even knew what that dream could be.

                It gave you the feeling sometimes found on waking, when you don't want to get up because it's _so comfortable. But it also filled one with a joy so great it made you want to cry out to the entire Earth something you just can't put into words. A nice medley of emotions._

                Three hours after school's end, Gohan jumped out of his chair and began pacing. Videl noticed and patiently put down her book. Gohan paused and opened his mouth to speak several times, until he finally got out, "I'm happy."

                Videl smiled. "That's good to know."

                Gohan looked into her eyes. "I would hope that you understand. It's not just that I'm happy, I'm bursting." He repeated it in a whisper, "_Bursting."_

                Videl could see that he was breathless with excitement. It was electric; Videl could feel it running through herself, too.

                "That's why I'm writing!" Gohan did a little twirl.

                "So what's the problem?" Videl stood and grabbed Gohan's hand. The were circling each other, like the Earth and the moon. Time seemed to slow.

                "I'm missing something!" Gohan shouted to the ceiling. He laughed.

                They stopped circling and pulled each other close by the hands they had been holding.

                "Starts with? Sounds like? Give me a hint!"

                "Light. It has to do with light."

                "Moonlight?"

                "No. Argh," he growled, "it's on the tip of my tongue, too."

                The closeness became a hug.

                "Warmth?"

                Videl watched rapt as Gohan's frustrated expression froze, his jaw closed, and his mouth curled up into the smile of epiphany. It made Videl think of that one Greek genius who was in his bathtub when he figured out some great thing and ran out into the street screaming, "Eureka!"

                "Thanks," he whispered thoughtlessly. His mind was already ten steps ahead.

                Videl had to smile as she pictured Gohan screaming 'eureka' naked in a crowd. Then the crowd disappeared and Videl was left to blush. She giggled. Then she returned to her book. "The Free Lunch." Robinson was good at what he did.

                The sun soon died a gruesome death, it's of pink, purple, and silver blood spilling out onto the clouds like some god's altar. Videl leaned back against Gohan's chair, listening to the furious typing. When he stopped, she tilted her head back to find him smiling down at her.

                "All done," he said.

                "Good," she returned. "Can I read it?"

                "Of course." Gohan rose and took over the warm spot she left on the carpet. He thought it would be smart to turn the air conditioning down...

                When she was about half of the way through it, he interrupted with, "Videl..."

                "Hm?" she asked, looking down at his head against her outer thigh.

                "Um... I don't want to wait until the weekend to teach you to fly."

                She blinked. "Okay." Then she went back to reading. After finishing, Videl noticed Gohan wasn't looking at the sunset anymore. He was looking somewhere else, somewhere beyond it. Videl wrapped an arm around his neck in a backwards almost-hug.

                "Can I sleep here again tonight?"

                Closing his eyes, Gohan mumbled, "Yes."

                She smiled, and together they watched the stars come out.

                After her shower, Videl walked into the bedroom and took a long t-shirt out of Gohan's closet to wear to bed. When she realized Gohan was already there, it occurred to her to blush, be embarrassed, but she reacted differently. Videl knew he had his eyes closed, or was under the covers, or something, because she trusted him to be polite. Trusted him not to worry about that kind of stuff, yet. Just trusted him. It was alien, though. Maybe the trusting issue or the fact that she was changing into a nightshirt and panties in front of a guy. In his bedroom at least. Their bedroom? Was that precocious? This was the second time she was sleeping in here. Or third? She couldn't remember. Did Gohan even know she was going to sleep in his bed again?

                That brought a tiny smile that cracked the nervousness. This was the first time it had been a planned occurrence. She slipped under the cover on the left side and snuggled up against Gohan. His breathing sped for a few seconds, but in just a moment everything was cozy.

                Videl didn't feel cozy, though. "Gohan." Her voice had this strange, familiar edge to it, Gohan noticed.

                "Yes?" he whispered.

                "Put your arm around me," she whispered back, almost right into his ear. Her breath tickled him.

                So he put his arm around her shoulders and felt her lean into him, her head against his neck and his above hers on the pillow, a comfortable pressure against her hair.

                Some strange feeling rose up in Gohan. It was almost like the feeling he had been getting throughout the day, something reminding him of molten gold, but it was different. Just the knowledge that this was how it was supposed to be.

                "I don't understand what's so-"

                "Shh!"    

                Videl was getting closer to making an energy ball. It had taken three afternoons of meditations and kata unfamiliar to her, but that was the foundation. Once she got the first one done, everything else would be a whole lot easier.

                "Let's go back to-"

                "No! We did that all day yesterday until it was coming out of my ears, and-"

                "Then do it," Gohan ordered.

                "I'm doing it right now! With every ounce of my will!"

                "Let go of it." Gohan didn't want her to get angry.

                "Huh?" Videl stopped all of the mental strain she was putting on herself.

                "Look, I think... You're trying too hard. You're so intent on doing this that it won't happen. Just relax." That brought a grin to Gohan's face. Videl looked a little incredulous. She'd been trying so hard a sheen of sweat covered her face. 

                "Okay."

                "Lay down."

                "I don't need to-"

                "Relaxation! Think about each part of your body, separately, and flex the muscle. Then release it. Once you're completely relaxed just stand up and try again without trying. I mean just stick your hands out and will it. I mean-" Gohan looked a little frustrated.

                "I think I got it, Professor."

                "Hmph."

                "I understand, though. You don't have to think about it too often."

                "It's all instinct by now." Gohan lay down next to Videl.

                His eyes snapped open when he noticed a growing source of energy above him. Videl was radiating happiness.

                "I did it... Wow."

                "It's beautiful."

                "And it's all from me."

                Gohan was also glad that Videl hadn't powered up. The little perfect sphere kept trying to draw her energy into itself.

                "Throw it."

                "Where?"

                Gohan threw open the balcony's double doors. "Out there. Control it. Make it dance. Blow it up."

                She did. It was a cute little game. Gohan even made one of his own to chase hers around. Soon enough, she was a pro.

                "You didn't blow it up yet."

                "Give me a minute. Do I imagine an implosion?"

                "Yeah, that'll do it."

                It was like a bright firework going off.

                "Do another." Videl was getting used to Gohan's 'teaching voice'.

                "Something different?"

                "Put power into it."

                "Um... How much?"

                "Not as much as an average human. Use your feelings."

                "Yes sir, Obi-wan, sir."

                "Hey! Personally, I think I sound more like Yoda."

                "Yeah right. Yoda's far too cool for you."

                "Want to see me go super-Saiyan?"

                "That only makes you look cooler. Doesn't make you sound cooler."

                "Videl, your energy! Holy- Throw it!"

                "It's too much! I feel like I'm holding a huge weight!"

                "Don't throw it, release it!"

                "But-"

                "It's gonna blow!"

                The thing was strong enough to destroy the Moonlight Apartment Complex in a hit. In the wake of the tiny ball's explosion the sun seemed to darken.

                "Whoa." Videl grinned.

                Gohan looked disbelieving. Not in the blast, not at all with Videl's power level, but that she could be so exhilarated after nearly blowing away his home. Their home? She hadn't slept in her own bed since the previous Saturday. On Tuesday they went to her place for some clothes and books.

                He changed his mode of thought when he realized what this meant. "I think it's time to start flying lessons."

                She was still shaky, having only gotten the basics down pat on Friday afternoon, but it was enough to take the duo out of the city. They ventured into the wild blue yonder that was the untamed mountains.

                After setting up camp, they hiked out at a slow pace towards the rolling hills where winds were so strong a normal person might have been blown over. Great place. Beautiful.

                Dropping down into the long grass, Gohan responded, "But where does it say that? We've talked in a big circle twice!"

                Videl sighed.

                "Speaking in tongues is when you speak in your own language, yet everyone in earshot hears what you're saying in the language they think in," Gohan tried to end the conversation.

                "You just don't want to be wrong." Videl said smugly, hoping this would set him off.

                To her surprise, he took a deep breath and said, "I'm sure you know me well enough by now..." With his eyes closed, Videl couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious or what. She was afraid she might have hurt him or something.

                Rolling over until she was against his arm, Videl whispered, "I'm sorry."

                He might have been crying and she would never know it, because he breathed, "Race you!" into her ear and was flying toward the lake in the distance like a shot. Wondering about bathing suits, Videl zoomed after him.

                Gohan was nowhere in sight when Videl reached the lakeshore. Noticing his energy rising up out of the water, probably to pull her down, she prepared to maneuver behind him and throw him across the lake. That was why she was so surprised when he appeared behind her, criss-crossing his arms under hers. An energy blast had gone under the water?

                "Up to a swim?" Or rather, a dunk.

                Videl held his arms with her own, leaning back into him and soaking up his warmth. Not one to be bested, Videl leaned her head back and spoke into his ear, "I bought a hot bathing suit to show off, just for you, but now you want to just throw me in, and like this at that? Not very nice, Mr. Son..." Before she'd finished Gohan was sailing down towards the lake like a rock. Thinking on the subject all night, Videl had found the best way to break and aerial lock was to use your full body weight. That was why she was upside down at the moment, grinning broadly at the moist Gohan.

                He shook his hair of water like a dog, then began the chase. Videl was giggling as they spiraled back towards camp. She landed on her back, and Gohan used the ground around her to stop with his hands. Water that the extreme winds hadn't dried trailed between his eyes, off his nose, landed in the little crevasse below her nostrils. It continued, ever so slowly, until it slid across her dry lips. They were getting closer and closer until the second Videl felt the air rushing out of his nose tickling her upper lip. Unable to draw their eyes away from each other, the moment seemed impossible to forestall for even a single draw of eternity longer.

                "BIG BROTHER! Woooohooooo! Hiya Gohan! Why haven't you visited us in forever? What's wrong big brother, are you okay? Your face looks all red and-" Goten bounced from rock to rock with expert style.

                Hi Goten, did you know that I love you so much it kills you? No, I didn't mean me. Come a little closer so I can reach your neck... "Hi Goten." Gohan smiled. Videl smiled, too. But their smiles exchanged for this strange look of want and need that spoke something of what they didn't understand how to voice. Videl opened her mouth to speak and ended up breathing in instead of loosing a single word. She closed her mouth and looked away. Both of them felt hurt for some reason, as though they were barred from reaching what they almost had except in moments like the perfection of the previous.

                Goten was confused and showed it. "What's wrong with you two?" he asked innocently. Gaining a burst of energy, he said, "C'mon Gohan! Mom's making blueberry pie with lunch and you know that's your second favorite in the whole world! I'm sure there'll be enough for all of us, even..." he scratched his head. "I'm sorry I'm not good with names. I'm Goten." He stuck out his hand.

                Videl took it and smiled good-naturedly. "I'm Videl."

                "Cool! Let's go! Are you coming, Gohan?"

                Gohan yawned. "Yeah. Nice to see you again, little brother."

                Goten smiled.

-*-

                "Mmm! This is great pie Mrs. Son!" Videl had tasted Gohan's cooking, but he had learned from his mother. Of course. Her enthusiasm brought out smiles.

                "Well it's nothing special..." Chi-chi was getting along wonderfully with Videl. She had also noticed how comfortable Gohan was around her. The girl practically sat on his lap and he didn't have a nosebleed? Was this her adorably shy little Gohan?

                And she ate like a Saiyan, too, Chi-chi noticed. That was strange. Maybe there was something to Piccolo's warning a few weeks ago that he'd realized something was strange about this girl. Gohan probably knew. The way they talked together, oh, it made Chi-chi wish that Gohan was still around. Their conversations may not have had the same depth, but there was still the same connection and the almost magical feeling that the other already knew your most secret thoughts. Yet the reason came to light that he was thinking the same things. Such a beautiful thing, love. Love? Her Gohan was in love! Oh the bliss and heartache of a mother's firstborn child. Chi-chi wanted to laugh at her own witty poeticism. 'Poeticism'? Now she wanted to laugh even more. Gohan's happiness seemed to make her happy, moreso than since before Goku's death.

                After the meal, Gohan and Videl washed dishes while Goten sat on the counter and talked to them like he usually did with his mother. Chi-chi found herself wondering if that was how it might have been like if Goku had remained. Pure-hearted intentions or not, love could hurt. Good thing he talked to her when he could sneak it past king Kai... And he didn't like her hair! That had pissed her off, and made him laugh. It made her both glad and sorry to see that he was hurting as much as she was. The downside of keeping your body after death, being able to dote on the past. Otherwise you might wait for the end of your love's life to pass on. Or something.

                Nearing sunset, Gohan kissed his mother good-bye and she hugged him fiercely. Videl gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek as well, and waved to Goten as they flew off.

                Chi-chi sighed as she watched the sun fall, thinking about what had gone before. Until Goten noticed, of course, and tried to distract her with some funny thing he'd discovered earlier.

                Goku...

-*-

                The sunset was becoming a part of Gohan and Videl's every day. After dinner, enjoying the silence, lounging in each other's arms, Gohan was running a brush through Videl's hair after a lake bath. Both dreamers were lost in the exquisite colors of the night-birthing, different from the city's. In the wilderness, without any pollution to detract from it, the skyscape only got grander.

                "Mmmm..." Videl could feel herself getting more and more sleepy wrapped in a big blanket of Gohan. She giggled. It was becoming easier to giggle nowadays.

                After the sun was gone, Gohan said, "Let's go to bed."

                Videl's eyes were like lead. "Yeah."

                They retired to the tent and to the 'softest spot on the whole mountainside' as Gohan claimed. It proved true, though, as it was nearly as comfy as a mattress.

                "Videl?" The words cut through the silence. The cicadas played no music, there were no busy streets anywhere near. Just the sound of rushing water somewhere close.

                "Hm?"

                "Is something wrong? Not with you I mean. Something feels like it's missing."

                "Nnn..." A single blink lasted for eight hours.

                Gohan was a little concerned, disturbed. It took a long time for him to fall asleep, but he was diverted by the way Videl was breathing. He could feel her body's slight rise and fall, and it was a beautiful thing. Because this lithe form sleeping in his arms was _alive, and that was such a miraculous happening when you focused in on it. The existence of life, so taken for granted. The thought of a spark, of a tiny flare of light, glowing in spite of infinite blackness, living. Living._

                The sound of her breathing became like a lullaby, and somewhere around midnight he drifted off.

                "Gohan!"

                There she was again. This dream was so familiar, so constant... A black-haired beauty, who had a name now. In the last months, a name, Videl.

                "Gohan!"

                She was in danger? But she could handle herself. They had been training together for so long, her power felt equal to his own without him going to the second level. What could put her in danger?

                "Gohan!"

                The dream curved back in on itself, repeated endlessly. The laws of physics need not apply. But something was different in this dream. His memory was changed. He could hear his own thoughts, from so long ago, see how he had reached the next level through burning anger for just the second time because of her. Her screams of desperation. Now, though... It made him curious. He didn't feel angry, more worried. Wanted to understand, to know what it was...

                Like being torn apart, the answer buried itself in him as he asked the question. It was a whirlwind! Ice cold, black, infinitely expansive, and then there were memories that weren't memories, flashing before his eyes.

                A fight! And he was winning! Pushing him back through the air, knee, knee, knee, knee, double roundhouse to the head, both feet missed, punch and blocked, punch and blocked, tears streaming from his eyes, nonono there is no fate, no precognition, I make my own destiny, sword! There was a sword in his hand and it gave him assurance. There was Videl at his side. His side in the fight. So good together, like they knew each other's next thought. Double attack, easy wins. Father? Father... Father! Return to the first fight, no, no it was the last, it was- slash with the sword! Block! Slice, slice, slice, right to left angled, left to right horizontal, right to left up-angled. The tears came now because of loss. Return to the cold black. Everything was gone...

                Gohan woke breathing raggedly and in a cold sweat, but the sky was still black. Videl's warmth reassured him and he soon fell back to sleep, unable to remember what that dream had been about. It might have been that old familiar one, he thought. If so, it couldn't be that big a deal...

                "I still can't believe that."

                "What's so hard to believe?"

                "You didn't know how to power up!"

                "Yes I did!"

                "It took you an hour!"

                "So? I did know how. I thought it took meditation."

                "Well, maybe it's a good thing. You didn't destroy your house."

                "That's a plus."

                "You just made a nice little valley over there."

                "Nice of me."

                "I think," Gohan said as Videl vaporized another cliffside effortlessly, "that we should work on flying."

                Videl paused in her next attack. She was having fun doing this! So why stop? "Aww, c'mon Gohan." Videl put on her best 'puppy dog eyes'.

                His gaze earnestly met hers. "Isn't it more fun to fly at the speed of a jet than to destroy big chunks of rock?"

                "But I can already fly!"

                "Not well! How do you ever expect to beat me?."

                "Oh yeah?"

                The laughed a lot and played a game of tag, talked and philosophized, sang a bit, went fishing with their bare hands. Gohan showed Videl some dinosaurs, and some of the geological formations in the valleys that the river ran through. Underwater they even found a leather-bound journal with a map of the entire area. It was a great find.

                The day was dwindling down and both had nothing to do. It was incredibly boring because they weren't at all tired, everything was packed to leave later, and it felt like they had done everything they could do.

                Staring at the beautiful sky, the incredible clouds piled on top of each other like a temple of the sun, they talked about whatever popped into their heads. Nothing thoughtful or important, just words.

                Gohan began a story, trying to figure characters and a plotline and everything, and that lasted a good half-hour. Then Videl started one, and it got deeper and deeper until the conversation turned to Love itself.

                Basking in the sun, Gohan declared, "It's not dependence."

                "No." Videl had her hands behind her head. They were laying on a huge slab of sandstone somewhere above their camp.

                He sighed. "It's not lust."

                "Of course not."

                "It's not circumstance."

                "What is it? How about 'something we need'?"

                "Yeah. But that's its use. Sort of."

                "A connection."

                "A link? Or a bond. A bond?"

                "Both. It connects the two, and it binds them in soul, spirit, mind," cough, "and body."

                Gohan smiled lazily. He floated up, still parallel to the ground, and said, "Follow me."

                Videl blinked. "Where?"

                "Trust."

                "'Kay."

                They slowly moved to the edge of the stone expanse, then went into a dive that multiplied their speed before curving up and launching like rockets into the sun.

                Videl was closing on Gohan as the air around her got cold. It was a strange feeling she'd only felt before in early Spring, where the sun was a warm blanket, but you were still cold. Hard to pin down, but that's what she felt at the moment. Until, of course, Gohan slowed just fractionally enough that she slipped into his embrace.

                Looking up from her head resting on his shoulder, Videl saw that Gohan's eyes had this look of thought. He was trying to figure out how to say something.

                "Videl? Do you remember what I said last night?"

                "What did you say last night?" They were still rushing through the air, albeit more momentum and a touch of levitation than true flight.

                "About how something was off? Not exactly as it should be?"

                "Mm. I must have been asleep."

                "Well..." Gohan smiled down at her. She was so cute, wrapped in his arms and a perfect fit in the curve of his arm. He felt his face get closer to hers. Their noses were touching, now.

                "Videl, I figured out what was off," he whispered.

                She breathed deeply and continued to stare into his eyes. Her mouth was open just a little bit, breathing sped slightly, hands twitching the slightest bit as though they wanted to pull him closer and-

                Gohan's face fell closer, so that his nose was against her cheek. Videl eyelashes closed and opened slowly, deliberately. "What I realized was that I haven't said 'I love you' since the first time. And it was gnawing at me, because I love you Videl. So much..." He whispered this last as their eyes closed and their lips met in pure rapture.

                It was... tingly. And they fit together. And she tasted sweet, almost. Like perfume or strawberries or air after almost being drowned or tears. Tears. She was crying. So was he. Why was that?

                They shared breath. The feeling got squishy when Videl's tongue somehow found Gohan's, both not trying desperately to remember all of the stories and talk and movies of how to kiss, both not caring about whether it felt good or was done right or about inexperience. They were together, drinking each other in. They were together, in love. They were together.

                When it was over, they kept close. They didn't repeat it, but their cheeks were touching, eyes still closed, and Gohan maneuvered back towards the camp.

                The last week had built up to this, every word and look and touch slowly bringing them closer than they were, then closer until their lips met.

                When they got back, Videl managed to stand on her own feet wobbly.    

                She took on a wistful look and the corner of her mouth upturned. "Can we do that again?"

                Gohan's dazed gaze blinked into focus and his mouth opened in a laugh that Videl soon joined, which got greater and greater until all that was left was the joy of being together.

-*-

                Sharpner was filled with a happy fire. It wasn't happiness, not really, just glorification in the sheer _power being thrust on him like candy. In his mind it was a pillar of fire rising underneath his feet to envelop his entire body like a twisting spiral filling the space between ceiling and cement._

                The person who used to be him was crying on the inside. Tears flowing as they taught him the dark ways of drawing your hate into beams of energy, sobs breaking as they played the subconscious message on the TV that never turned off, Babidi Lord, Babidi Master, Serve him all your heart, mind, body, soul, give him your soul.

                Weeping as they mutilated his body, without anesthetics they tore off his arms and used technology ten years old that would increase his ability by a significant factor. As they slowly changed his child-mind into that of a psychopath who loved pain, be it from others or himself. His Self watched the dark things happenings, and cried.

-*-

                "Another execution today!" Sharpner greeted Michael with greedy eyes.

                "Yes." It hadn't been so surprising that his Sharpner had taken to killing with zest. It was a beautiful thing, Michael found, to see someone with such potential fulfill it. Of course, once the job is done, of what use is the tool? Leave that to the imagination.

                Sharpner went on about some silly thing as Michael observed the chemically stimulated behavior was effective as it had been the entire previous week.

                The day passed swiftly, and what still continued to interest Michael the most was how dynamic the implants were. The only feasible way to train Sharpner was against hordes of warriors blasting away. Though there were certainly enough to spare, it was a bloodbath. Michael watched as all energy attacks were absorbed and how he was building up a store instead of turning it on his opponents.

                Looking away, Michael turned in a slow circle, reminiscing. This entire complex, he thought to himself as he gazed to the far reaches and tiny niches of the place, was made by my own hands. Every block was laid by my plan. I took it from my lord and I made it grow. My 'talents' have been doubled, I present them to you. Is a biblical reference an oxymoron?

                It had only been a year, yet here he was at the pinnacle. When the Return came, Earth might be under Michael's grasp. All that was really left was to continue fleshing out the army and to pour out might upon Sharpner.

                The lamps that had been left behind were 'one quarter what is needed' according to Babidi. With all of that given to Sharpner, they could proceed to sweep the Earth using him to destroy cities and herd the people like animals. This was the reason that they had never killed anyone in the pursuit of their life-energy.

                Soon enough. The only addendum to this simplistic agenda was that Sharpner wanted revenge first. Easily enough arranged. And maybe the girl could provide some... entertainment. Just in case the tool decided to quit halfway once its personal objective was achieved.

-*-

                My name is Justin.

                I put that at the top of every one of these entries. Reaffirmation.

                Today we had the ceremony of outpouring. I played the head priest in giving Michael's thing its energy, but of course Michael was the only one playing any strings. Puppet master.

                I'm not envious. But I hate him. I am disgusted.

                How often can I say that? As often as I care to.

                This is far beyond my loyalty to him, taking some darling warrior out of the blue and pouring all of our efforts into a single shot. What if something goes wrong? What can we do but start over? I am the one whose head Babidi will cut when he returns. That foolish child. Completely taken in. I'm glad I was one of the first of the last. Not enough time for him to cast his spell of strength on me, turn me into a mindless footsoldier without a soul. I was charged as third, and soon I was first. This latent intelligence of Michael's was supposedly Babidi's secondary plan, some kind of kidnapping and remaking. The thing is probably trying to recreate himself by taking this other and shaping his own tool. Such arrogance! My mind was the one that reformed Gero's designs! I wanted an army of such warriors and what does this damned child do? He does what he wants, of course.

                I can't stop him. These are my last few entries. If that child of Samael screws up, he will pay the price, and then I will be the target of my beautiful dark army. They mustn't kill me, for that would be the ultimate dishonor. I will make my plans.

-*-

                Sharpner growled. He was the general of all these maggots! Why wouldn't they do as ordered?

                Michael appeared behind him. Not that they could sense like the greatest before them, Arush, killed in single combat, but Sharpner heard his breathing pattern among all the others. With the change in strength, with the implants, his senses had risen to match.

                Michael. Of course they wouldn't listen to him in the face of orders coming from a higher power.

                "Why aren't we going?"

                "In the last three days we've lost their movements a dozen times and-"

                "How did that happen?!"

                Michael spoke even more quietly, shutting Sharpner up with a hint of fear. "No need for you to wonder. It was human error. Stop being impatient."

                Sharpner growled again. His revenge, so close, so sweet he could taste it on his tongue. And Videl was with that bastard. He would have his revenge and he would have Videl. The fire behind his eyes glowed so brightly that Sharpner thought his pupils might glow red like embers.

                "Has the plan changed?"

                "No."

                "I get to kill him. I do. Me. No one else must touch him."

                "I don't see why you don't want to torture him."

                "'Cause then he gets to say he's better than me. I want to show him how much better than him I am."

                "You know for a fact that you're greater than anyone on Earth."

                "That's what you've told me."

                Michael's cold eyes got steely. "That's the truth." He looked up as though someone had called to him. "It's time. Go. I will be observing from nearby."

-*-

                Three weeks after their first kiss, Gohan and Videl walked together towards an abandoned section of town. Videl had her arm wrapped around Gohan's, leaning against the shoulder of her opponent-to-be.

                "So what's the map?"

                "Same as always."

                "Harumph. Thirty-third to Pier Street?"

                "Only the homeless'll see us."

                "I'm going to win, love."

                "I didn't say anything."

                They broke apart after a quick kiss and an faux-arrogant look. On Videl's part, it was mostly real, though. Gohan had continued to win and win and win because he was able to go super-Saiyan. She had told him, forced him not to hold back every time. But she was getting better. Gohan was amazed at the speed with which she progressed. All he knew when she went off to train by herself was that she ran outside of the city first to power up. It wouldn't have taken too much thought to figure out, but she was training in the gravity room. Two hundred fifty times Earth normal. She was going for flight speed, because Gohan was almost double her in power. Even then, he claimed that he wasn't at his max even. Tapping into that ability she had garnered months earlier, Videl found he was at roughly half when he transformed. After learning from Gohan that it was abnormal, they had tried to explore how she'd learned it, but couldn't.

                Anyway, Videl felt him power down. Soon enough he had his power pushed down so far it was hard to distinguish him from the rats. During the first week she had felt this gnawing hole inside where she had trained and trained before, and Gohan agreed to train with her. Out of that had developed this game of hide-and-seek which ended in a fight until one or the other gave up. But the first one had been handicapped in Videl's favor because she didn't know about power endurance.

                When you're powered down, your potential exists like a shield. You can be hit with a blast up to your maximum strength and not be destroyed. It takes away from the power you have in reserve to shield against stuff like that.

                Videl didn't know about that and wasn't want to kill Gohan, so she hadn't really attacked with so much ferocity.

                She couldn't power down, not without destroying pieces of the city to power up again, so she swept the entire border of the fight zone in a minute, keeping a perimeter watch. Her latest strategy involved running through stretches and inviting attack. From there it was hit and run, hit and run, if she could run. If Gohan went super, she stood ground.

                The fights were as good as she had ever had. He never went so hard that she didn't get a workout from it first, and some of his moves were things that she had to really think about. Never before had there been a challenge, not since before that one day in the woods.

                If only she could win just once...

-*-

                Gohan leapt from shadow to shadow, keeping close track on Videl peripheral tred around the battlegrounds.

                This wasn't as much fun for him as it was for Videl, because it wasn't a challenge and because he wasn't in such a rush to fight either. But Videl wanted to do it, and it was a decent enough way to pass the time. Not only that, it was taken to a strategic level with all sorts of chess-like moves added in. Feints, bluffs, jump right if she jumps left, move here if there sorts of things. And the place was an intricate maze. No blasting away around here, methodical insertion and slow achievement of victory.

                Watching, watching. Movement there, so run down the open straightaway. You could see much from this vantage, warehouses for the next few blocks, crumbling buildings and the ancient roads. Full daylight worked to everyone's advantage.

                He pushed his power down further. This would guarantee a solid first hit against him, but it was better to be invisible than to be a target. A lone framework structure was at the center of the messy maze, and that was where Gohan was headed. All he had to do was find the brick median and keep it to his right side. Then he could wait for Videl to move into the right place and strike.

                He found it. When he paused for another check, he noticed the sun going behind a monstrous bank of clouds. It might rain tonight.

                Continuing onward, he almost ran into an old man. The guy looked up and straight into Gohan's eyes, and with something akin to a sigh pointed somewhere. East South-East, by the sun's path. Gohan would have spoken his thanks, though he knew not for what, except that the man took a hand from beneath a ratty cloak and held a finger to his bearded mouth for silence. What a beard, must have been a foot and a half long.

                Gohan leapt into the air and sailed in the direction the man had pointed. Something about his eyes stayed in Gohan's mind. The clarity? It was a strange thing to be able to read eyes so easily, then to come across someone so complex...

                That was it. The complexity.

                Gohan's thoughts fell back into pattern when he landed in a bush-lined square. It reminded him of the city park, where he and Videl had gone just the previous week. The frame of a many-roomed building was in front of him, but something was odd. There was a black tide crawling over it. No, those were people. Like when that blue heathen tried to take the men he had and attack the city. Just like that.

                Gohan decided on using the building next to his new target for a vantage point. His eyes wandered through what must have been one hundred steel-framed cubicles on the first floor. A new design that must have failed. Or was in the process of being completed. He didn't notice the men who saw and recognized him when he exited the square.

-*-

                Videl didn't recognize the power at first. His aura was mangled and darkened and increased vastly enough that she would only be able to evenly match it. But it was that Sharpner kid who had asked her out and ended up threatening her that one time...

                Where the _hell had he gotten so much power? Where in damned hell?_

                She located it as being near the center of the district. Soon enough she spotted Gohan's form from a few thousand feet away and caught the barest wisp of his power.

                Sharpner was there. So were a thousand or so others of very minimal power. Scary, almost. One even had traces of that power Babidi's minions used.

                She raced to get in a position to help.

-*-

                Gohan was being chased through the halls and corridors of the abandoned apartment building next door to where all of the power levels were congregating. He hadn't broken a sweat and hadn't needed to consider powering up beyond the level of a rat, so he didn't. In just a moment he wished he had done so, because his body was rammed through several walls and in the state he was in his head began to bleed. He was dizzy too, probably in danger of a concussion or something. Faster healing would come with his power-up, too.

                He couldn't find the concentration, though. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! His chest was being pummeled, he was coughing up blood, blood in his nostrils, eyes tearing from the pain, his leg might be broken...

                This enemy gave him a second after a throw into the corner. Gohan was able to see his enemy.

                He wasn't that tall, but his body had this raised look, like wearing odd shoes. His leg muscles were pronounced through his raggedy jeans, and his arms were a pasty, smooth white in contrast to the rest of his frame. Something was familiar about the hands, something... Most of his body was invisible because of the lighting and the way clothing piled on him, but his face, his eyes, they were familiar. It was Sharpner. Just a kid from school. You tend to know the kids from school. Even when there were two thousand of them, you become able to recognize who is and who isn't from there. This kid skipped often, wasn't so very bright, but was one of those guys who would work for what he wanted. He was a normal adolescent, thinking so many things revolved around only the present moment and the opposite sex. Sometimes a bully, sometimes chauvanistic, most times an arrogant sonuvabitch. No, not son-of-a-bitch, that would be insulting his mother. Of course, it was probably her fault he had become the way he was, but still, this kid whose strength was beyond that of steroids and any level of pure training he should have, was staring down at another kid who couldn't think straight enough to see his opponent's ass. If Gohan was able to see Sharpner's ass, he would have kicked it. All it would take to be stronger than him was a single thought.

                Gohan watched himself get knocked around even worse. It hurt, somewhere. And he wondered, why wasn't he angry, why weren't his twelve-year-old fighting instincts kicking in, why couldn't he think straight after such a short fight? No answer came to him.

                Then Sharpner stood him up. The guy was going to put all of his strength into one punch, deck Gohan and break his skull in half. But then Videl was there. Videl came soaring in the window artfully, and they knocked moves. Incredibly fast, screaming, block block block block, and Videl got backhanded for just a moment. Not even enough to make her lip bloody. Although, that would take quite a lot.

                Except that was enough that Gohan, for whom time and conscious thought had slowed, got angry. His face was bloodier than it had ever been, his body hurt more than he could stand because he was weak at this point. His fire was there, he would live, he just couldn't put up any defense until he was even at the level of a normal human being. How would this monster like it when he was comparable to a rat in Gohan's eyes?

                And a single flash and the kindling was lit. Gohan's eyes glowed a turquoise and his hair turned a metallic gold. Eyes went wide with anger, and all that in the fraction of a second Videl was recovering from that slap. Then, in that moment as well, Gohan read Sharpner's eyes. They weren't his. They weren't, and it was only just starting to show. In them were the souls of all of the people... It was like Cell, when he powered up. The screams of the lost. That was what Sharpner's eyes were like. And that made Gohan even angrier.

                With a roar likened to that of a berserker five hundred fifty foot tall biomecha, Gohan launched himself at Sharpner. Saw the fool's ears perk up at the thunder of his approach, saw the damn bastard's eyes saccade and twitch so that they were staring at Gohan. Not fast enough. Still moving in what seemed to be slow motion, Gohan felt ribs cracking and kidneys being stomped. His enemy's hands were immobile, and nothing could stop Gohan. But then they fought back! Twisted Gohan over their shoulder with what took unthinkable power. Tried to attack, but Gohan brought his hands to bear and without a word loosed a beam of energy that should have vaporized Sharpner and the supports of the building in which all of that dark army resided.

                Except Sharpner raised his palms, still in slow motion to Gohan, and accepted the energy like a warm bath. That was where Gohan remembered those hands from. Android Twenty or nineteen. The fat one.

                And he laughed. He _laughed. Gohan was pissed. Not even five seconds had passed since Gohan had gone super-Saiyan. Videl stood tall, Gohan knew that if she could have she would've run to hold him. Except she whispered something very familiar, something no amount of power could equal, and ran off. Likely to stop whoever was behind this mess._

                Gohan launched a flurry at the new Sharpner, the one who was now about half again his own strength because of that blast. Leg to shoulder, caught, other leg twist around in a trip, jumped, both legs free, attacked! He grabbed both of Sharpner's fists and unexpectedly jumped up, using a kick to the gut to send him into a nearby wall. How had the androids been destroyed? Rip his arm off? Rip his arm off? Should Gohan do that? He was still mostly human. His heart may be evil, but...

                Then Gohan was rushed and a simple side-step, elbow knocked Sharpner flat. He grabbed the punk by his shirt, turned him around to stare at Gohan's face covered in dry blood, and asked, "Why?"

                A loogie was spit in Gohan's direction, but easily dodged. He who can dodge bullets...  But then a whispered, "You stole Videl..."

                Gohan didn't blink. "She wasn't yours. She's always been mine."

                No thoughts about hypocritical chauvanism and women's rights, just the simple mutual ownership and love Gohan and Videl had over and for and about and through each other. That's a lot of prepositions, and all were damn true.

                Sharpner got this dejected look, like he was depressed. Then his head jerked and he kept babbling something, something small and innocent like 'my life is my own' over and over and over like a counterspell of some sort. Breaking a curse. Then he said, "Hurt me."

                And Gohan kindly obliged. He beat on the souped up power-sucker until the thing had nothing left but a tiny bit of life that was truly his. Looking into his eyes, Gohan wasn't so disgusted. Only insomuch as he had always been.

                The thing was no longer a machination of some dark twisted mind. Just an abused runaway.

                Gohan threw his former opponent over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and left the building.

-*-

                "Michael..."

                "Michael, you have failed."

                "I know, Jason. Don't be so repetitive."

                "Okay."

                "Okay?"

                "I... think I'm in the mood for change."

                "I see. Well, then-" Michael turned around to look at Jason and froze. The normally subservient second-in-command was dressed in a black leather trenchcoat over a black suit. Now, the memory struck Michael of how all morning Jason hadn't straightened either of his arms. He could see the arm of the device that had silently placed a gun firmly in Jason's hand, handle even covered by the material normally used to clean glasses, in case of fingerprints.

                "You don't deserve a good bye."

                Bang. Eyes went wide.

                Thump. The gun clattered to the floor in slow motion. Time was all a state of mind anyway, and dramatic effect is often increased by the subpsyche's perception of time.

                Jason pulled on some gloves and walked out of the room of a hotel across the street from where everything was going down. Best for him to disappear.

-*-

                Last thoughts. Last thoughts. I'm hyper-intelligent. I can think at ten times the speed of the average human. A gun. How sad. Is this the end? The only moment in recent history when we've been this alone together, and he takes the chance I hadn't counted on.

                All that work... I'm sorry, Lord Babidi.

                He could feel it slipping away. What magic Babidi had taught him he had employed fully in keeping his army happy and ordered. And put into locking Sharpner's mind up. Behavior altering drugs weren't strong enough to keep a person's soul ensorcelled. That was the nature of sorcery. To enrapture things. Bind them to your will. Not witchcraft. Not really magic. Sorcery.

                Bang.

                I am me again. I am free...

-*-

                Videl was just in between a rock and a hard place when everything was shot to hell. She had seen the face of a child, not the scum who Babidi had formerly employed. She had seen a human being, no 'M' on their forehead, truly with a soul, and was about to run away from murder when everyone started to run in random directions with a lot of noise.

                Gohan appeared in the mess and grabbed her out of it. They carried Sharpner, moaning, to the Briefs Compound.

                "Gohan..." Videl reached out to tenderly touch his cheek. He powered down, but slumped when he did and quickly powered up again.

                "I need to heal. I'm so tired." He looked wearily from eyes set in a bloody face, "I love you."

                Videl smiled. "I can't wait to hear tomorrow's news. I'll see what Bulma can do, I want you to go home right now and rest."

                Gohan flashed a grin that seemed forced, but leapt into the air to head home. Watching him fly off, Videl thought to herself that she should have bound more of Babidi's minions. If they were Babidi's. Something was different that time.

                "So..."

                "Yeah."

                "That's it, eh?" Bulma looked whimsical behind her mug of coffee.

                Videl smiled. "I suppose. I left out a bit-"

                "I figured that. Like how you learned how to fly in the first place. Don't worry, don't worry, my dear hubby told me all about how your power is abnormally high. Way. I'm glad you can use it and understand all that stuff we found out years ago about aliens and all that."

                Videl sighed. "How's life, then?"

                "Great. Trunks is so much like his father, though. It's getting to be a hassle. Not much else to tell you. I'll try to help that Sharpner boy as soon as you leave."

                "I'll leave now then. Someone's waiting for me."

                Bulma smiled. "Luck-y guy!"

                Videl blushed. "What do you mean?"

                "You think I can't tell? Who is this kid?"

                "I'll give you a hint- you know him."

                "Oh, but I know so many-"

                "Bye."

                "Love you, sweetie." They hugged. "And you better start coming over more often to talk. While I have you here, could I ask you a favor?"

                "Of course, with all you're doing for me..."

                "Could you participate in a little experiment?"

                "Certainly."

                "Well, the first part requires you keep a log of constant thoughts, to establish a pattern. This has to do with two people sharing brain waves and how it affects them."

                "Um... That sounds scary. I'll do it, though."

                "Thank you! See you."

                "Bye." Videl walked out the door and stepped into the cool evening air. She wanted so much to be home next to Gohan...

                Unbeknownst to her, a few minutes later, because she had overcome her procrastination in starting after Videl's visit, Bulma called Gohan. He didn't answer, so she logged a message on his Desk saying, "Gohan, could you come over here for an experiment? I'll fill you in on the details when you get here..."

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	8. Chapter 7

Tamashii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777

****

Chapter Seven

__

We are not enemies, but friends. We must NOT be enemies. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

-Abraham Lincoln. 

__

Just off the border of your Waking Mind 

There lies another time 

Where Darkness and Light are One 

And as you tread the halls of Sanity 

You feel so glad to be 

Unable to go beyond. 

-E.L.O.

"Twilight"

__

Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.

-Freidrich Halm

"Ingomar the Barbarian"

"Gohan?"

"Hm?" They were at the end of the lunch line, where they had to put in their account numbers.

"How often do you dream?"

This was a little awkward with a bunch of people around, but he answered, "Almost every night." He paid his way and stepped aside to wait for her.

"Are they good dreams or bad dreams?" She seemed really into this for some reason.

"Um... Neither really. They leave me feeling good as opposed to bad, but most of the time they're just really strange or realistic, and lucid."

"Lucid? You control your dreams? Cool."

"It depends..." How to word it? "There are some signs you have to train yourself to recognize," he said finally.

"Like what?" Her curiosity was turning fiery.

"Blinking." Gohan took a bite of his cafeteria pizza. Ick, at least it tasted good. None too appetizing. How come on Mondays they only had one thing to pick when on all other days there was a huge selection?

"Blinking?"

Gohan blinked.

"In dreams you use your 'third eye', which is really a generalization for spirit view. You know how they have 'god view' in video games, the aerial one, or first person, where you only see the gun, or any of that stuff. In dreams you can see in every direction and your subconscious doesn't make you blink. If you can train yourself to notice that and consciously do it, you get power over the dream."

"Awesome..." Videl had a faraway look. She was getting excited. "What else, what else?" Very excited.

"There's the weirdness factor." She wanted more explanation. "Most of the time you accept anything that happens in a dream. If you're able to notice it..."

"I get it... What else?"

"Well... You know the meditation we both know?"

"Yeah?" Videl seemed to be fighting her energetic curiosity.

"There's a thing I learned when I was getting into all the different religions and what they were about. Did you know that you can tie it all in with energy? Taking and giving energy, using it unconsciously through prayer, rituals, stuff like that. Quantum physics? That's not based on the will of a person, really, but by the energy the unconsciously spend toward that will. So if you raise your power level before you go to sleep, you can have more dreams, and more strength over your dreams. Sort of... It takes a lot of focus. I only do it as a side-effect.

"That's a lot..." There was a short silence. "Why don't you go to bed more often with your power raised? I mean, you can do anything in dreams!"

Gohan put on an emotionless mask and said, "I don't really like dreams all that much. As soon as I get control, I usually end them."

Videl wrapped an arm around his. "What's wrong?" There was that edge again. He had pegged it down- his mother had the same tone in her voice when she was determined to get what she wanted.

"Most of my dreams have dad in them for some reason. All of them are really different, I'm sure, although I don't usually remember after an hour or so, except for one..."

"You should keep a journal."

"I can't."

"Can't?"

"Whenever I start I never continue past a day or two."

"Hum. Well what's this one that you can remember?"

"Uh- That is, no thank you."

"Go-han," she said in sing-song.

"Well, you're there-" Videl smiled. "And you're calling my name." His mask dropped and his eyes showed his concentration. His head even tilted the slightest bit to the right when he was thinking hard enough...

"That's it?"

"Not recently, no..."

"Yeah? C'mon, I don't want to push you that much."

"Okay, it's just that it's hard, ya know."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just want to help, and you need to get more out in the open, Love." She moved close enough that Gohan could feel her breath on his ear, "It's called intimacy. More important than love itself, right?"

Gohan slipped a hand around her waist and whispered into her ear, "I'll try. You don't have to push. I'll try." A half-hug later they separated and he continued with, "Well, recently it's been more hazy than ever before, except for the part that's always there, you saying my name, and all I can remember is fighting, but not with energy or fists so much as weapons. There's a sword. And I've never fought with a sword, even held a sword. Only seen one used in a real battle once or twice." Memories of future Trunks popped up. "And the only other time something new was added to the dream was after I moved, last year, I could see your eyes. You have the most unbelievable eyes I've ever seen."

Videl had a look of concentration on her face, too, and barely noticed the compliment. She did notice the grammar error, but her thoughts were elsewhere. "That's a misnomer. And you've been having this dream for how long, now?"

"Um... Five and half years."

"Gohan."

"Videl?"

"That's when we first met."

"You're right. But it was even before that, actually. Right after Dad's death, I think." He got a little thoughtful.

"Gohan."

"Yes?"

"You'd never seen me before."

"Yes."

"This is a precognitive vision, dummy!" She poked him in the arm as though it was so obvious he had to be dense as granite.

"Uh..."

A smile crept onto Videl's face. "Cool."

Gohan blinked, thought for a second, then echoed her. "Cool."

"So?"

"So what?"

"What do you think?"

"We're destined?"

"Do you believe in destiny?"

"Well, not really. How about collective conscious will?"

"Argh. I love you. What's this about a fight with swords, then?"

"Well..."

She got that look in her eyes again. "How about we start training with swords! But wait, no, that might be a Cassandra Paradigm thingy-"

"Wha?"

"We fulfill the future by knowing it. There was that one movie... 'Twelve Monkeys'? Angsty."

"Hmm... Want to go to the movies?"

"Gohan, stick to the subject. And yes, by the way." She flashed him one of those grins that told him he'd done something right. Not that he really had to try very hard...

"Well, swords? I'm not too into weapons."

"Just a thought. But I want you to start telling me about your dreams."

"Okay. That sounds nice." More to share with the one he loved.

"Why did we get into all this about dreams anyway?"

"You got me into the lucid part, but really I had a new idea about something we talked about a while ago."

"Hum?"

"What if we live in the minds of others?'"

"I remember vaguely. Yeah, what if?"

"It occurred to me that it could work differently. I can't accept that I don't really exist. What if it's us? Us dreaming up our life here? We might have a completely different life out there, but in here..."

"Isn't that a form of psychosis? But if that's true, who's the protagonist? Is it a mass-hallucination, a mass-consciousness, a virtual world where we're all slaved to a big computer that gives us this imperfect utopia?"

"Oxymoron."

"No, I don't think we could exist without imperfection and violence and all that. I wish so much that we didn't, though..."

A sigh. They turned back to lunch, but as they did two people sat down on the other side of the table. Erasa and Sharpner.

Erasa and Sharpner?

Videl had ignored the girls long enough that they'd just up and moved to a different lunch table, stopped talking to Videl at all. Not that she noticed a big change. So Erasa was a surprise. But finding her with Sharpner, finding Sharpner in school at all, that was a bigger surprise.

"Hi." Videl thought the greeting fell a bit flat, but-

"Hi, Vi!" Except that unlike a normal day, the energetic blond had to force her happiness. Gohan noticed Sharpner put a hand on Erasa's knee, which seemed to change her expression like a mask. Now it was that of a tired, forlorn teenager.

Sharpner cut to it with, "It's only skin-deep." His face remained in a frown. "Payment. I was stupid..." He looked away.

"I think I understand. Isn't this sudden? How'd she get you up so fast?" All pretense seemed to be gone and the conversation just sparked from nowhere.

"She didn't have much to do. She had all the tools on hand, too." He didn't sound anything at all like his previous self. He sounded subdued. Changed. More serious, less arrogant. Like a humorless forty-year-old, no offense intended to humorless forty-year-olds.

Conversation didn't seem to want to start up beyond that point. Erasa made a few tries, but it just wouldn't get going. When Gohan and Videl finished, they looked at the pair and Gohan said what had just occurred to both minds. "Erasa? You and Sharpner, wha?"

She put on her 'blond' expression, kinda blank and seemingly empty. "I found him on the street so I took him in and helped him out, and it turns out we have a lot in common!" She had this bright smile, and it seemed she couldn't get used to not having to match the expressions of the rest of the clique. Except that this little group didn't seem to want to smile at the moment. Sharpner looked... tender? Was that the word for softened features and eyes that almost sighed with one of those undefinable emotions?

"Well. We'll see you in sixth period?" Gohan asked.

"Count on it," Erasa said. Gohan bet that Sharpner would even take classes with the girl. With the way he looked before, with the constant, noticeable changes in his persona, there had to be some serious psychological screwing going on. He was going to latch onto her like... Well, like a tortured human being to what their subconscious linked to the word 'savior'. Bulma was probably a close second, unless he was as angry at her as he would be at whoever did this to him. Just the way things worked. At least insofar as Gohan could infer from what books he'd read. In writing this kind of thing you get insight into it. Maybe he and Videl could help them. Double dates. That almost made Gohan laugh. Had he and Videl been out on a really real date yet?

Today a hockey game, the day before was a nice flick at the movies, the day before that was a restaurant. It felt good. Release. Change. Relating in a whole new way, finding a new outlet for these feelings of connection.

And they had gone with Sharpner and Erasa. Gohan could see them in these stages he had gone through, that he hadn't realized he was going through at the time. Sometimes watching them made him wonder about him and Videl, just how close they'd gotten.

The roar of the crowd was amazing. The 'augh' when a goal just missed, the unison of thought when that thin line was crossed, the helpless rise to your feet as you give yourself up to the scream for your team's score.

What really made it all worth it, though, was Videl wrapped in his jacket most of the game, eyes half-closed, enjoying the closeness. Closeness. Warmth.

Anything but numbness, no feeling. It kept creeping up on Gohan, this strange presence of non-emotion. Nipping away at him a piece at a time, trying to tear him away from his little candle in the cold black.

His breath sped and he pulled Videl closer. She could already tell that something was wrong, and kissed his chin to let him know she knew. Looking at her, her eyes, he didn't have to fight anymore.

Until the game was over. Walking home, making idle chatter with their friends, Gohan just felt the smile slide off of his face. Nothing was wrong. Just getting a little less fervent. Couldn't use the muscles in his face to smile no matter how hard he tried, but that was just because he was tired, right?

Everything started to look a little bit darker. Or clearer.

Videl grabbed his hand and skipped ahead, splitting from the others with a wave and a farewell, and when they were out of sight she pulled Gohan close and looked into his eyes.

It took him a second. Blinking, he found himself toe to toe with Videl on the corner of an empty street.

"It'd be like kissing a fish." Her eyes held laughter.

"Wha-"

"I can't kiss your lips if you don't know I'm kissing you."

Gohan opened his mouth to respond but could only manage a breath. The way his mouth kept moving like he was trying to find the words was a little... fishy.

"Now you really do look like a fish," she said. Her eyes softened and she pressed her cheek against his, so close she could see the shimmer of tears in the midnight moonlight. "You better tell me what's wrong when we get home. And I want to know right now, so let's fly."

Gohan hid his shock at suddenly being fifty feet in the air but didn't let go of the hand pulling him until they landed on the balcony of the apartment. In a second they entered their heated home and Videl sat down on the couch, pulling Gohan down next to her.

Videl leaned against him and whispered, "So?"

Gohan didn't say a word for a few minutes, trying to order the mudstorm of thought that kept leading to the same depressing conclusion just beyond his reach.

"I'm just seeing things objectively." He declared.

"So that's why you're crying."

"Well... You know how it is, sometimes tears come without a reason."

"Only when you're depressed. And there is always a reason, you just don't know what it is. Is this the one thing we _haven't_ talked about?"

"We never needed to. I'm not depressed."

"Gohan-"

"I feel numb. That's not depressed."

"What's wrong with being down? At least then I can help you."

"I'm not, though. Lay off." His breath caught in his throat and his teeth clenched at his upper lip. Gohan knew he was being stubborn, knew he was arguing with the woman he loved, knew he was being stupid, and he hated it. It scared him, what he was doing as well as his lack of control over it. Like he said, he was in an objective state of mind. Just watching the interaction of words and actions and thoughts. No hand in it.

Angry eyes, Videl thought to herself. He'd never had that shield over his eyes when he talked to her before. It wasn't against her, she knew. He was hurting, and he didn't know why. He was reacting to his pain and against his ignorance and probably didn't even know it.

With his back partially turned to her, Gohan didn't see Videl wrap an arm under his and whisper in his ear, "I'm sorry. And it's late. Why don't we go to sleep?"

Gohan had trouble swallowing, probably because tears threatened to fall if he let up for an instant. He let her lead him by the hand to the bedroom, where he stripped to his briefs and put on a robe before going to sleep.

Videl didn't say anything when he cried in her arms.

Vacation couldn't catch Videl and Gohan off guard. Between midterms and science projects and piles of homework aimed only at taking up time, they managed to talk with Chi-chi about Christmas, Erasa about New Year's, and each separately to Bulma about her project. In all the rough-and-tumble mess that made up that last week before they departed from the city, telling each other that they were going to share someone's brainwaves for a day kinda got forgotten. And in all the warm and fuzzy that followed, it remained sweetly far from the mind.

Greetings were heartfelt. Goten was happy to see his brother again, saying the least. He got all hyper and talked really fast and ran around a lot. There was something different about the little guy, too. Something only noticeable on the edge of perception.

Gohan was glad to see his brother, and if he didn't stop talking he didn't feel weird about being so wonderfully hit by love from all sides. Love of Videl, love of family, the protective love of being an older brother, more and more and more. 

In the middle of family meeting again, Videl felt accepted. She was already a part of this beautiful thing Gohan couldn't seem to live with. Couldn't? Was that intuitive? Except that why else would he be alone in the city? Don't let's praise the spire of knowledge that's the Satan City educational system. Especially under all those budget cuts... No, he left because family wasn't enough. Videl didn't want to trust that as the truth just yet, though. Was Gohan her family? Isn't that all it boiled down to? Gohan felt his family broken and distant, however. Could it heal? Or how about transcend what it was? But certainly she was as much his family as he was hers. That only made sense.

Adding the presents they had brought to the pile beneath the tree filled up the last of the empty space. Chi-chi and Goten had molded a beautiful winter scene out of plaster, little houses and children and things. A mirror that was a lake. White cotton cloth for snow. And it was all painted very well.

The couple felt a few hours slip by unnoticed as they talked with Chi-chi, uncannily like the conversations they normally had. Life, school, friends, everything. It turned out that Goten was quite the artist, painting that entire Christmas scene by himself.

Videl was struck in the middle of this stuff when she noticed herself watching Chi-chi's face, unconsciously comparing her and Gohan. She could see where Gohan came from in his mother, but there was a... cutoff point. She could easily find where Gohan differed incredibly from his mother, and it was all of these clashes in ideology and experience that made for good talk and new thought. Gohan and her had shared so much that there were some topics they had come to conclusive endings on, while others that their positions had solidified, even in opposition. But who wants to talk with their mother for hours when the love of your life is right next to you?

On the second day, the first full and glorious day of freedom from hustle and bustle, Gohan woke alone. That jolted him awake enough that he sensed Videl outside in the cold.

Seeing her in the bright glaze of the rising sun, what could he do but wrap his arms around her waist and press his cold nose against the base of her neck?

"Good morning."

"Mm." She smiled the lazy smile of a morning person. Even if it was already nine o'clock.

Gohan yawned and said, "Wha' do you wanna do today?"

Videl took a moment before answering, "You see that mountain behind your house?"

"Uh-huh."

"I want to climb it today."

"'Kay."

"Oh, look." Sunrise could be just as nice as sunset, especially if you didn't have to wake early for it. This time of year the sun didn't really appear until it got over the sides of all those mountains. A three-degree difference between the summer and fall, where it rose over the horizon at True East, but that affected a lot.

"We don't see the sunrise often."

"I don't think I've seen one in a long time. More than a year, anyway."

"I've woken early a couple of times..."

"It's nice."

"Yeah." He blinked. "That mountain there?"

"Yup."

"No problem." Gohan's smile was confident.

"Um... I don't want to fly up there. I want to climb."

Gohan's face dropped. "Well... Cool. We can pack a picnic."

"Make it big."

"Of course."

"No, I mean _big_."

An anime character might've sweatdropped.

Why did she refuse to fly? Purposely choosing to rough it, no energy use, nothing of the sort to make the climb easier.

"Stop whining."

"I'm not whining!" Gohan called up to her.

"I can see it in your face."

"How can you see my face?"

"Stop whining."

"Bu-"

"Goooohaaaan..."

"Um..."

"Enjoy it. C'mon!"

"Argh."

"Think of lunch."

"Ooh. Joy."

"Whine whine whine."

Oooh! She tricked me! No fair! She knows all about my sarcastic tendencies. Cheap.

"Stop complaining."

"Hey-"

"Maybe I can read your thoughts." Or maybe I just know you. Whiner.

"Humph." He shut up until the cleared the final plateau, sticking a grim expression on his face. When Videl saw him, though, she burst out laughing and couldn't stop for a full three minutes. Oxygen deprivation and stomach aches.

"What's so funny?" Gohan felt majorly annoyed.

Between gasps, Videl answered, "That expression on your face. You look like this." She demonstrated and even Gohan had to smile.

"I tried to look grim."

"That was grim. Sort of." Her grin was starting to hurt. It was contagious, and Gohan was feeling happy.

"At least we've reached the top." Gohan yawned and lay back so that the whole sky was in his purview.

Videl joined him after moving both packs a few feet away. "It's nice."

"I think you're nice."

"Well that's odd, 'cause I think you're nice, too." He put an arm out for her to lay her head on. All that muscle served as a nice pillow.

"Huh."

"Like the hockey game from all the way up in row S, 'we've reached the top'."

"Har dee har har... I think I might fall asleep."

"No... Lunch first." Gohan could barely keep his own eyes open.

But in a few seconds they were both sleeping under the ceiling of the world, a sky stretching endlessly into blue dreams...

Before the return climb, nearing sunset, the two were staring out from the top of the mountain.

It left one breathless, and it wasn't because of the climb or the height or the stretch of miles and miles of land at their feet that they felt a tingling up their spines. That they got a feeling of awe. It was because of the person standing next to them. Atop the world with your friend, your equal, your love; it was a good feeling.

Christmas eve came and went, with Christmas at its heels. Family was starting to feel good again to Gohan. But the day after Christmas...

-*-

Frustration. That's what it is. That's why I'm out here alone in the cold. That's why I didn't bring a jacket. I want to be cold. I'm angry, I know I'm angry, and I don't want to be angry. But it's not really anger. Just frustration, and it makes me want to lash out. So I fight it. I project a wall. That may be worse, but not in my mind. I'm used to the wall. But I don't want to hurt anyone. It's such a simple thing, follow the directions, the incredibly vague directions, and it should get done easily. Even without a battery for the little targeting red dot. And I'm so egotistical that because I can't do it, I get angry? No, it's not that I can't do it, it's that it should work. Why doesn't it work?

It's so cold out here. But if I go inside, I'll be cold on the inside. I don't want to be cold to her. I'll shrug her off or say something. But she'll try to find out what it is, and I just want to hug her right now, just bask in her warmth, but that's like stealing, making her take away my cold. That's what it feels like right now, anyway.

I'll go back in. Here I am. I'll go to my room. Staying down here is like inviting the questions, 'what's wrong', 'where did you go'.

And now I'm on my bed. Is it my fault for expecting comfort. Maybe she's doing something. I didn't see her. I saw Goten glued to the TV. I saw Mom in the kitchen at the sink. I don't feel good. I don't know why. It's probably the cold. My feet are warming up. I'm not tired. I just want to close my eyes and fade away, though.

Tell me I'm depressed. I think I am. I know who I am. I know where I am. I'm just confused about something. Something's wrong, and it's making me frustrated. It isn't the damn telescope anymore. Now I want to cry. What's this, how depressed will I get? I'm even shaking. the house has heat. It's supposed to be at eighty degrees. That's warm, especially right out of fifty-degree weather and a wind chill without a jacket.

The room is dark. I'm cold, and I'm full of food, too. That was a good meal. Bad conversation. Videl looked at me funny. I think my depression may catalyzed just then. I even have an 'Ender Complex'. I can look out from the perspective of the self that observes the self. I'm in third person. It isn't as powerful as right after I read "Ender's Game" but it's there. I can't relate. I don't want to think. My window curtains are spread. I can see Mars out my window. That means I'm facing south-southwest. I never thought too much about that. I love astronomy. I don't know all that much about it, but I love the stars. I've been out there. But I just want to look. Just a peek. And I can't handle a damn telescope.

Instead of feeling a surge of adrenaline in anger, I feel calmed further. I just want to sleep, so I can escape.

Escape what?

My own Self.

It's been festering since that hockey game. I should have let it all out then.

A noise. A click, and the sound of moving air. Videl just entered the room. Light shines from the open doorway at my back. It's more by my feet, actually. On the far left in the wall directly across from the one the bed sticks out from.

She's taking off her shoes. Was she... looking for me? I feel guilty. But I still feel tired. And apprehensive, now.

She's sliding onto the bed, up against me. She has her head on the pillow behind mine, and her arm is slipping around my waist. I can feel warm tears fall down my cheeks. I feel so warm, and she hasn't said a word. Her face against my hair and hear body against mine is perfect. I have her arm held to my chest like a teddy bear. That reminds me. I still have the one she gave me, but with her to sleep next to me, with our love already present, I haven't needed it for comfort. Poor Videl-bear. Poor me. What kind of love do I feel that I run away? What did I run from? Just a hug, and everything would be all better. We might have talked the night away, eventually figured out what was wrong.

My sobs still, my sigh expands my chest so that the feel of her is more pronounced against my back. She kisses my ear, snuggles against my hair. I know I'm going to be asleep in just a moment. I really do love you, Videl. Don't let go of me...

-*-

"Mmmm-nurgh! Gohan... Stop moving. I mean it..." Videl was still sleepy.

"It's nine already. I'm awake. Once I'm awake..."

"Blah blah blah. Nnnnn..." She buried her face in his back, trying to remember the remains of a dream.

"We're leaving today," Gohan reminded her with a yawn.

"Yeah." Videl raised her head and tried to blink the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes.

They got up, but before Gohan reached the door Videl had him in one of magnificent morning kisses that make you not even think about the weird sour taste that sleep and bacteria bring. Melting into an embrace, that's the only way to wake up.

"Morning Mom."

"You two slept in late. And in your clothes, too. Where did you go last night?" Her smile was the kind only a special sort of antagonist is allowed to wear.

"Sleepyheads, sleepyheads, sleepyheads!" Goten started to dance around and chant with a mouthful of toast to yell through.

Gohan managed a lazy smile and said, "What's for breakfast?"

Knowing her evil scheme to make Gohan blush had failed, Chi-chi smiled and answered, "Just some eggs and toast. Nothing heavy, you two have to fly all the way back to the city today."

"Looks good."

"Tastes good."

"Yeah."

Breakfast wasn't really eventful, and the morning was a flurry of packing and good byes and those quiet, calm moments where things ground to a halt for breaks. Those moments were packed full of eye-contact and closeness, as much as could be managed in a five-minute pause.

Home became a reality soon enough. It only took a few hours to get back, get everything unpacked, set the gifts they'd received under the tiny tree they had in the living room.

"That was fun."

"We should go there more often."

"We can, you know."

"I know."

"Gohan."

"What?" he asked innocently.

"What happened that made you so distant from your family?"

"I... It was mostly my father. But you already know that. So you must have noticed something else. How about... I didn't have a support group?"

"But you didn't make any friends the first year."

"I'd expected to. And I couldn't go back there because they were there. I felt as though I couldn't talk when I should be able to, and alone I'm not able to. So I don't feel strange or bad or alienated or alienating."

"I understand." Videl stared at the coffee table in front of the couch. "We're out of milk. And bread. And there's nothing for dinner."

Gohan perked up. "Let's go to the store, then!"

"Um..." Videl slid across the couch and kissed his lips, staring at his wide-open eyes as she whispered, "How about you stay here and I'll be back in a half-hour?"

"Hey!" he whispered back, "It's not my fault I like to have enough food." But his smile told otherwise. Videl could shop way better than he could because he never stuck to the list of things they needed. How long until they used that jalapeo pie crust sitting in the back of the pantry? Stuff like that.

"Yeah, okay." Videl rolled her eyes. "Should I get lunch?"

"No, I'll order something."

"'Kay, Love. See ya." Her smile was something to cling to.

-*-

Bulma turned in her chair in a slow circle. Psychographs, tracking maps, thought levels, chemical readouts, and other simpler things. The shutoff switch, too, in case of emergency.

She looked at her notepad, then at the little red button.

"I hope this is a success."

She pushed the little red button.

-*-

FLASHFLASHFLASHFLASH!!

Happiness.

Bliss.

CHILDHOOD.

Innocence.

Purity.

GLIMPSE.

Father! Power. Strength.

Understanding.

FLASH!

Pain. Loneliness.

Growth.

FLASH!

Growth.

Acceptance.

SELF.

Cowardice.

Individuality.

MORTALITY.

Death. Acceptance. Resilience.

Blossoming light. Fear.

NEED.

Journey.

Knowledge.

BEYOND.

Lifepath.

Future.

FLASH!

Destruction. Father!

Change. Situating.

FLASH!

Return. Others.

Understanding. Striving.

SHADOWLIGHT.

Warning. Training.

Loss. Utter... Mother.

FLASH!

Continuance.

Pain! Compensation. Changes. Acceptance. Dad!

FLASH!

Fulfillment. Escape. Father!

Confusion.

FIRE.

Enemy. The Room.

Games. The games of children. The games of the universe.

TWISTED.

The game played by an unfair god. Loss. Loss. Pain.

Fear. Return. Second abandonment.

PIECES.

Self-hatred.

Lost.

FATE.

Finding.

Hope. Strength.

FLASH!

Passage. Continuance.

Change.

FLIGHT.

Noise without voice. Loneliness.

Darkness.

PINHOLE.

Meetings.

Meetings.

LIGHT.

Denouncement.

Hope.

NEWLIGHT.

Meetings.

Meetings.

GATHERING.

Friendship.

Support.

FLASH!

Love.

FLASH!

Dark.

FLASH!

Love.

FLASH!

Dark.

FLASH!

Love.

FLASH!

Dark.

FLASH!

Love.

FLASHFLASHFLASHFLASH!!

Every blinding burst of light accompanied by a picture, a freeze-frame memory, with all the scent, sound, sight, and taste to go with it. Emotions were like firestorms, nothing stayed the same, thought after thought after thought after thought, burning themselves into the retinas.

FLASHFLASHFLASHFLASH!!

Almost like a roller coaster with no end in sight. The screams must have scared the hell out of anyone nearby, with the two mirroring actions from miles apart, clutching their heads at the temples without any control over bodily function. With restraint, there was only unconscious fury and impossible strength, without was just destruction.

FLASHFLASHFLASHFLASH!!

Whirling, whirling, faster, faster, picking up speed, increasing the pain, burning new records of thought onto the other mind, twisting pathways of memory and chemical patterns and electrons.

Then, a drop of water.

Stillness.

Frozen.

Black.

-*-

The strange thing, Gohan thought, was how tingly it felt. Tingly. Not achy or painful or mind-bending. Achy. And there was this sense of fear he couldn't understand.

A glimpse of heaven? Maybe.

He thought it might be oblivion. Something close. Except that by this point he was usually dizzy and had a headache. Usually 'this point' meant trying to comprehend non-existence at all.

Something had happened, he was sure. He couldn't recall anything that had to do with sending him whisking into oblivion, but this was a decent trip. Too bad he couldn't share it with Videl, though.

Videl... Something to do with Videl. A brain overload. There had been pain. Was something wrong with him? When was Bulma going to do that thing...

Maybe that was what it was. Like that one anime. If your brain believed that it had been destroyed, it would cycle in a coma-like loop. This wasn't like that, though. That would be different. Gohan wasn't sure how he knew that, but he was sure it would be different.

-*-

Videl wished she could feel herself. Something was incredibly, horribly wrong, and she couldn't take it lying down. It felt as though she was lying down and standing up at the same time. But she wasn't focusing on that. It was her worst nightmare. She was alone. She just wasn't strong enough. It was coming. Where was Gohan? Gohan had made that dream disappear. Had he left her, too? What had happened? What was wrong?

This was terrible. Videl's thoughts were getting frantic. She was freaking out. She was getting nervous and scared and she was getting very cold. There were images floating in front of her, everyone who had loved her. Mother, Father, Gohan, a few in the distance, but where were they now? Gohan...

It was here, it was here, it was here!

She couldn't scream! She opened her mouth and felt her vocal cords vibrate and tried and tried and tears stung her eyes and she-

She wanted to cry. She couldn't cry! She couldn't cry. She couldn't cry. She had no eyes! She didn't exist, didn't matter, wasn't present in any anywheres anywhere...

And it was right there. It. Dark emptiness. Nothingness. If she could just scream, he would be here. He would save her. But she didn't matter, wasn't strong enough to help herself.

She gave in. She just disappeared, gave up to the infinity of tears that she couldn't shed. Videl was gone.

Retching, puking, blood coming out of her nose, sweat pouring down her face, Videl was alive. She was real. How had this happened? She dropped down to the cement and cried. Although she didn't know how long, there was a sense that time was different wherever she was. Pushing herself to her feet, Videl felt something akin to a cold wind and shivered, crossing her arms for warmth.

Walking along, it occurred to her to look for Gohan. Gohan... Where was he? Where was Gohan? Had he abandoned her? No... Something had happened.

The thought crossed her mind to look around. For the first time she saw the empty city. It had steel-blue skies and building of pure white. The people were the harshest part, though, because they were gray. Frozen, lifeless, empty people, it was as though they weren't important so they were taken away from this world.

She saw something. The sun came out from behind the single murky cloud, and it heatedly shined down, practically burning. Videl saw something, saw... a shadow?

She walked slowly toward it, felt drawn towards it, felt dark. It felt very dark. Videl's left arm started to feel fuzzy and black, like hate was boiling in her veins. The creature started to taunt, taunt from the shadow amidst sunlight, a space on the dark street where it was bathed in black though it seemed to be midday.

"You are alone," it laughed. "Everyone has left you and you are nothing. You aren't worth the dirt you're made from!" It cackled like a hyena and tried further to taunt Videl.

She saw, though. It was her. It was herself. She stepped up to the thing and whispered, "But you are alone, too..." Her eyes already hurt from crying and what felt like depressurization. The throbbing headache started to fade when she hugged it, though. Dizzying flashes of memory and lonliness and things, and then her pain. And herself. But she accepted it. She held 'herself'. It cried into her shoulder. It stopped taunting and it started to cry.

Videl felt the city tumbling down around her. She felt whole again, but a little disoriented. And sleepy. At least now she could wake up.

-*-

This place, this empty city, Gohan found it comfortable. No people. No one to bother him. No one to have to change for. But the thought kept haunting, that the only way for growth is interaction.

When he finally grasped that wearying thought, it appeared.

And it forced itself on him, with memories of dark times, of the point of self-destruction, at those sparse moments of willingness to embrace death.

Then it waved over him with embarrassments. With all the little things that children do, things that he can't accept because they are so- All the little things that he couldn't abide and couldn't rid himself of. Over and over and over until it just hurt, and all he felt was hurt and pain until he was forced to go super-Saiyan and realize that memory wasn't his pain- He was his pain.

Gohan lashed out, destroyed, destroyed everything he could, everything he could reach, tried to obliterate this demented reality.

"It's easier to hurt yourself than others, isn't it? Yet you try to escape by their pain. By the pain of your enemies. By the blood on your hands, that is your escape! And yet it fails..." the thing hissed.

Gohan was beset by the shadow, it's screams ripping like knives through his ears and taking him to his father, watching himself rip his father apart with his bare hands, the truth unable to shine through.

"And you know why they're all dead? Because you can never escape! Hee hee hee!"

Gohan was fighting again. He was tired of fighting. He was playing out the same battle he had been fighting since a time he couldn't recall.

This terrible shadow image was laughing, cackling, drawing him on, and Gohan's rage grew. Soon the city was bathed in fire and heat, nothing was left. The shadow called, "It's so easy to hurt others, but you can never bring yourself to do what you know is right..."

And the battle kept going. Anger. A deluge of anger, watershed, light and warmth and truth and... Videl. Gohan won. Gohan knew he had won when he remembered Videl because he loved Videl and that was the key. Love.

He smiled.

The shadow-thing screamed it's last and was to disappear forever. But Gohan remembered one particular time, one tiny time when he was probably eight years old, when he had done something...

That tiny, cold little sliver invaded. It reached his heart and he knew that he was vulnerable. Gohan knew he could win, but he regressed and in a fury launched out at the demon-beastie, ripping at it and blasting it and attacking savagely.

"I'll win! I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you!" A whisper, his mantra, his call, his warcry.

And he powered up a blast. A blast that could easily wipe out the planet. 'Boom' it might have exploded.

But then he found himself in a freeze-frame image, of himself in the jungle, the steamy jungle, behind the dark thing. He was holding a black spear, a spear filled with all of the hate and dark and evil and power and blackness of his soul.

He threw it at the shadow. With all the might he had ever mustered in rage.

THWAK!

And it pierced his gut, opening a hole that spewed intestine and blood and muscle and the sharp head of the spear. Gohan stared in awe. In amazement. But his rage boiled over, his hate multiplied by a vast factor and he gathered that hate, launching it with an abyssal roar at the infidel shadow-thing sevenfold. Too late he realized that the first spear had hit. That he had struck himself well.

THWAKTHWAKTHWAKTHWAKTHWAKTHWAKTHWAK!!!

A heap of blood and tissue and bones collapsed to the dark earthen soil. Then the scene changed back to white streets and gray buildings and emptiness.

A dark thing slithered out of Gohan's remains. A dark shadow that rose up, became an image the very best likeness of Gohan.

It smiled wickedly and started to walk down some stairs when its arm fell numb to its side. Blood seeped near the elbow.

Confused, it took another step.

Its gut tore open and blood stained its shirt.

Shaking, it forced another step.

Blood pouring from leg wounds and from its eyes and hair, it hissed, "But I won..."

Its eyes rolled back into its head, and it began to fall face-forward when it burst into so much invisible dust and was gone.

Gohan woke up.

He was in the corner of the living room. It was dark outside.

He rose and looked around. The clock on the oven said ten at night.

Videl!

In a rush, all of the memories from the experience washed over him and he fell down in a tizzy. His brain felt shaken. Maybe if he flew...

Gohan kept his eyes closed as he levitated up and to the balcony door. Once he got free of the apartment, he launched three thousand feet straight up. Slowly opening his eyes, he tried to think clearly.

Videl... Something to do with Videl. I am in possession of new memories. Videl's memories. I feel voyeuristic almost, although not so much because of who it is. I know what it's like to be a girl? Almost. More like an emotion than any sort of knowledge. Like an alien feeling of identity. My brain is already trying to compensate and work its way around.

What have I been doing with my brain? Bulma! Holy- She doesn't know that I know Videl! Could Videl be the other person in the experiment? What went wrong? It was only supposed to monitor and transmit. Should I go see Bulma? Wouldn't she have chased after us? No, she expects us to return. What monitors she has probably don't convey what actually happened to us.

But no. Videl. Must find Videl. Damn, I think I may have broken something in the living room. If Videl got like that... Where was she? Supermarket! So they would have taken her to a hospital, right?

Okay, think Gohan, think.

Closest hospital is... Satan General? Yeah, I'm sure. Not like I go there often. No time for sarcasm you dumbass. Got to help Videl. Got to. But how? They'll know her by sight, right? She's that big ass's- She's Satan's daughter.

What the hell should I do, then? I have to see her. They might have her locked up. If she was unconsciously flailing and stuff and saying things, they might classify her as insane. Best if I just go there and check out what's happened.

He flew to the hospital. Landing on the fourth floor through a window, he walked around until he heard a nurse down the hall saying something about 'Satan', '216b' and 'this afternoon', and on the high hopes that it wasn't about the famous 'savior of the world', Gohan navigated through the corridors until he reach room 216. He knew where he was because of the giant with the 'fro sitting on a large and probably very comfortable chair outside of the room.

It was surprising that he wasn't surrounded by reporters and things, but he might have asked them to stay away for dramatic effect.

Gohan pretended he had full authority, which might actually apply to him anyway even if he wasn't related by blood to the patient, and went to enter the door. Unfortunately, Hercule Satan stood and grabbed his wrist with a mean smirk.

He roared in a voice usually reserved for stage acting, "Who do you think you are, kid? Hey... You're the little prick my men always see hanging on my daughter! How in hell dare you!!" If Gohan hadn't side-stepped, his face might be covered by spit.

Quietly he said, "Get your hand off me. 'How in the hell dare you' even pretend to be Videl's father?" Gohan's eyes flashed, staring straight into Hercule's.

"You little-"

Gohan let his hair flash gold for a second, freezing any reply Satan might have had. He let go of Gohan, but gritted his teeth and made a fist, which he promptly waved in Gohan's face, saying, "You little bastard! I don't care who you are or if you really beat Cell or whatever the hell you're stalking me over! If you touch my little girl, I'll kill you! I'll kill you!!

"Stay away from her," Gohan whispered.

"NOO!" Satan roared, shaking the hall. He looked ready to make a bull rush at Gohan.

All of the fear and dark that had pursued Gohan during the dream made its way to the surface, venting from Gohan's system in a single golden flash of fist burying itself in Satan's gut, probably breaking a few ribs, and sending him flying back down the hall. Gohan didn't want any property damage on his hands.

He strode into the room. It was normal. Quiet. Smelled like anesthetics. There was Videl, still in her clothes. That was one unusual point. Maybe Hercule had gotten here faster than the ambulance, and paid someone to keep her clothes on. What a wonderful father.

Everything read normal. There was a brainwave monitor, pulse, stuff like that, and on the clipboard it said she was sleeping and should just be observed overnight before being released.

Gohan was going to wake her with a kiss when he found himself thinking about teddy bears. Something about how they always gave you a teddy bear when you went to the hospital. How would he know that? And it wasn't those memories he was still absorbing, it was a stray thought that wasn't his...

A kiss? Another thought? This time about that kiss he was going to give her. Videl's eyes popped open worriedly and a little fearful, but then she saw Gohan.

Oh, Gohan...

He blinked. Whoa.

Gohan opened his mouth to speak, feeling this sort of longing and intense displeasure at having to use such an unworthy means of communication, and said, "I'm having weird thoughts that aren't my own."

Videl smiled. "Can we go home?"

I think. "Urgh. Did I do it again?"

She nodded.

"Um... I don't want to violate any sort of procedure, so let's get them to sign you out."

"Okay." She pressed the little button to call a nurse. When one came, she asked for the doctor and was told that one would be sent right away, yes ma'am Ms. Satan ma'am.

All they had to do was ask nicely, probably because the Satan estate's funding was what kept this hospital in business. It was better than the threat that they were going to leave anyway.

This weird thought thing kept coming and going, always at the behest of the user. Sitting on the couch again and staring at each other, they tried to talk.

"I just want to sleep. We can figure this out-" in the morning.

"We have to see Bulma."

"Oh! I'm sorry I didn't tell you about-" the experiment!

It's alright. "I was just a little worried about what happened. This probably isn't what she had in mind."

"In mind." Videl giggled.

Gohan smiled. "Let's go to bed... I feel like I haven't slept in days."

Me too...

-*-

The morning brought thoughts of worry. After a night of shared dreams and warmth unlike anything either had experienced, Gohan found himself thinking about Hercule.

So he talked it over with Videl.

"Maybe... Maybe he was worried."

"I saw all the news vans outside."

"Still..."

"You have too much faith in people."

She touched his cheek and whispered, "Gohan..."

He rolled his eyes and fell back down on the bed. "What if he tries to make you live at your house?"

"All it should take is a signature, or you could move in over there. He's not there half the year anyway, and the other half he rarely crosses into my half of the house. I'm on the same side as the servants, only on the second floor."

"Okay. Well, we should wake up, shouldn't we?"

"To Bulma's house we go..."

"It was active for less than two minutes. As soon as I saw the psychograph readings flying around and making strange pictures, I crashed the whole thing."

"But..." So that entire dream lasted less than two minutes? We were just unconscious the rest of the time?

Yes. I was sleepy, remember? "Do we need to remove them or something, Bulma?"

"No, it's completely organic. Protein strands and stuff. I need to refine this experiment. But you said telepathy?"

"Yeah." Videl and Gohan replied in unison.

"I think I permanently linked you brainwaves. I'm so sorry! Oh God, I feel terrible, changing your lives forever and forcing-"

"Bulma." Gohan had a smile on. "Um... We've been living together for a while, already. And we don't mind the telepathy." Smile turned to smirk.

I don't like that smirk.

I want to kiss you.

Bulma nailed Gohan in the shoulder as hard as she could, screaming about how worried she had been and how he had sent her for a loop and all that.

"Why didn't you try to find us after the experiment was over?" Gohan asked.

"I figured you'd come to me. There was no evidence of trauma or paralysis."

"Blech. Okay, Bulma, we're gonna leave now." He hugged her and said, "If you have any more experiments..."

"See you later, kids."

"Bye."

They exited the lab, turning right to reach the street.

"That was fun," Gohan thought to Videl.

"So fun," she returned. She stopped, though, and thought, "Do you sense that?"

"It's just Trunks and Vegeta."

"Trunks is that strong? I'm only stronger than him by a third!"

"He is a demi-Saiyan."

"If we're gonna enter the tournament, I need some massive training."

"I thought we were leaving it up to the others; if everyone else comes..."

"Why don't we ask Vegeta? He might know what everyone's doing."

"Sure. But still, it's not for eight months."

"So? You always try to weasel out of training."

"Okay, let's go see Vegeta."

"I'm following you."

They walked the circumference of a large dome-shaped building, finding the inside crackling with tension. Trunks was doing some sort of practiced maneuver, and Vegeta was stomping him all around.

Gohan hadn't been surprised when Bulma told him about Trunks reaching super-Saiyan the last time he was here, and that had probably only made him want to spar with his daddy even more.

The kid wiped blood off his lip before screaming, "How the hell am I ever supposed to do it if you never give me a chance?!"

Vegeta chuckled. "That was perfect. And stop your moaning, child! If you fight against the best-"

"You'll never have to worry about the worst," Trunks finished. "You repeat yourself a lot, old man."

Vegeta laughed this time. "And you have no patience, little boy."

Trunks balked, trying to look as stubborn as he felt. That was when Videl laughed at his funny face and announced their presence.

Vegeta wasn't fazed and asked, "What are you two doing here?"

Gohan stepped onto the gargantuan training mat in the center of the dome and said, "We were wondering if you're going to enter the Budokai in August. We don't want to fight if there's no one worth fighting against."

Trunks next to them in a minute, jumping up and down saying, "I wanna do it, I wanna do it!"

"Quiet, child! Yes, of course we're going to enter. When else can we get you pathetic Earthlings to fight for the fun of it?"

Gohan smirked, and Videl noticed that it was like Vegeta's. Maybe it was a Saiyan thing. She hadn't seen her own smirk.

"We'll see you there, then."

"Why don't you come around more often, boy? I need a decent sparring partner for once." Trunks glared at him. "You're less than five minutes away."

"I..." Gohan flashed a look to Videl and was sure Vegeta understood. "No time." This caused baka-ecchi Vegeta to smile in a funny way. "Hey! It's not what you're thinking. Good bye."

"See ya, Gohan! Do you know when Goten's gonna come over again? It's been three weeks!"

"I don't know. Why don't you call him?"

"I haven't been allowed near the phone..." He had this shamefaced look on like he was embarrassed of something.

"Okay then. I'll call him and come over in a few days to tell you."

"Thank you, Gohan!"

"Bye." Gohan followed Videl outside down the path that led out of the compound.

"What a sweet family."

"Oh, truly."

"Are we thinking to each other right now?"

"Um... your lips didn't move."

"Okay, just wanted to be sure."

A silence found its way between them for a bit, and they soon found themselves standing before the park. The pair latched hands and strolled down the sunlit paths of green, trying to lose themselves. It took twenty minutes to reach the little grove that they both loved so much.

Idle chatter felt bad after all that thought-speak. So they started to think to each other about the dream. Both were surprised by the differences in each, depending fully on the person. It was a horrible thing, to face your fear and lose. But in the end they figured that those fears were a part of them. They didn't need them, but to lose them would be a great change, maybe unbalancing.

Gohan held Videl in his arms as the sat on the ground, her cape of silky black hair between them.

"Mm..." Videl thought-whispered into Gohan's neck.

"We had better get home."

"Wait- One thing..."

"Hm?"

"I love you." She smiled.

Gohan hugged her closer, whispering back, "I love you, too." and probably didn't notice the thought slip out, "I swear, forever."

---|=||\|


	9. Chapter 8

Tamashii no Unmei

by Sageseeker777

Author's Notes:

It's been a while. I can't apologize, though I have no excuse. There were ups and downs and depressions and inspirations, time and no time, but... Joey-kun, danke.

****

Chapter Eight

__

Hand in hand we'll journey as pioneers,

Unlocking the greatest mysteries-

Don't listen to anyone who says we're wrong.

They can't stop you when you're a pioneer,

For truth is your greatest weapon-

Out there in the cosmos where we both belong.

-"I'm a Pioneer"

__

Childe of the light and a vessle of memory;

I am not the sum of my experience- I am my experience.

-"Drakes"

__

If you stand before the pow'r of hell, and death is at your side,

know that I am with you through it all.

-"Be not afraid"

Friendship is a lovely thing.

Love isn't what we seek. It's intimacy.

'Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.'

Love born of intimacy... 'True love'.

"We're here."

"I'm already dizzy."

"You're always dizzy."

"That's confusion."

"Yeah, whatever..."

"Hey-"

"Shh. I'm okay. Just a little... It's almost an anticlimax. Seven months looking forward to this and we get here and..."

"Oooh! No fun!" Videl pouted at Gohan, pulling him to the edge of the palatial living area. "Let's get started," she said, as she took the last step.

"Ugh!" Gohan grunted, grabbing his stomach.

"What's the matter? It feels like I just got lighter..."

"Feels way different... at least seven hundred... God!" Gohan collapsed against Videl and it felt like a thousand pounds to her. What was he, two hundred five? It was a good thing she'd powered up a little before they'd entered.

He gave Videl a sideways grin after forcing himself into a standing position. "Just didn't expect it I guess."

She punched him lightly in the arm. "Yeah, okay. Do you want to spar right off? I'm all set to go."

"Don't want to unpack?"

"Oooh, you!"

"Angry?" Gohan laughed, "You went to all that trouble packing so... And what's with all these 'ooohs'?"

"Hisss," she poked his chest, "Stop baiting me. I wanna fight."

"That's the point."

"Bring it, then."

An hour or so later they stepped back onto the cold ceramic tile and plopped down.

"This is gonna be fun," Videl mumbled into Gohan's shirt. Her head was resting on Gohan's stomach.

"Maybe. We started the training a while ago, but this is supposed to be the hardest part."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? Why?"

"Um... Up till now we've focused on energy, technique, meditation. Sparring and the gravity chamber-"

"I was-"

"It's not the fact that you were doing fine in four hundred gees and you know that."

"What's left?"

"Well, we're here to prepare for the tournament. And you want to be able to beat me. You already can if I don't go Super... But in here it's kind of an endurance thing. Supposedly, the better you want to be, the harder this place will push you. When it gets to where you don't worry about mental stress, that's when you're really done. So it's like a final exam, taking what you've already got and making sure you can use it."

"I guess we never really talked about this place much."

"There was never much to tell."

"Wanna unpack now?"

Gohan grinned. "What did you even bring? Everything we need is already here, training gi's, food, a bath, beds..."

Videl smirked at his simplicity. "Men."

Gohan would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't been suddenly intrigued. What had he left out? He got up to look.

She'd brought a pack that was five feet long by three feet, and three feet deep. Gohan had carried it all the way to Kami's Tower, finding that it weighed rather a lot, probably because it was full.

Videl started to empty it into a dresser provided just for those who didn't believe in the all-providing nature of the room.

"I want you to try and guess," she said to him, "what in the world I could possible need that you would never normally think about at all. Don't feel free to take your time. I'll give you a hint- you'd blush."

He did blush.

"And you go shopping with me! Every time I tell you, you forget! If I don't go with you, that is. An entire year in here..." Despite the tone Videl was grinning toothily, pleased that she had Gohan in a position like this. He was so cute when his entire face was red from embarrassment! She finished putting away the pads and kissed his cheek. He was smiling sheepishly, now. "Forgetfully innocent. I don't understand why you blush like that over such a little thing..." Her tiny smile didn't fade, though.

"Okay, you got me there. But look how huge these bags are! What else?"

"Well... Remember that one dream you had, the one with the sword?" She found his eyes. He nodded. "I brought these!"

With that she used two hands to pull out four swords by their handles. "Two are wooden. Two are a titanium alloy. Training swords! Are you happy? I can teach you, 'cause it was the weapon I took up for my dad's dojo. I was never the absolute best since I gave it up before I was eleven..."

Gohan certainly looked happy. Or speechless at least. But he quickly countered, "Videl, you do know that by age eleven you were stronger than my dad at twenty-five?"

She stopped talking and looked into his eyes again.

Really? Whoa...

Really.

How-

I don't know. I always wondered if maybe your mother was an alien or something...

Hey! But that makes sense... 

Mm.

"You seem shocked."

"From what you've told me, he saved the world about then."

"I told you this before-"

"I hadn't known how strong he was in comparison. It took king Kai to make him that strong."

"You were using the gravity room, too."

"Still. My mother? That's plausible... No proof, though."

"What else do you have in that bag?"

"Underwear. Briefs and panties and bras. You said there was a huge supply of gi's and I figured they had something up here to let you wash clothes, but I didn't want to wear the same-"

"Icky. I'd forgotten about us teenagers and our obsession with hygiene."

"But hygiene is soooo nice!" Videl giggled.

Gohan's voice sounded a little distracted. "I like your laugh..." He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Videl's, staring into her eyes.

"What's this? You don't need to be all sensual to give me a good kiss, you know. Not that I mind, but if you're going to kiss me- Mmph."

You're funny, love...

-*-

It was a strange feeling, a cross between the presence of his hands around her waist and his breath against her neck, plus fear, anger, and confusion, all wrapped in a tense bundle.

And it hurt her, almost. Mostly it was worry, and maybe the intensity of his emotions were affecting her, but she needed to know why he had just left like that, why he had kept trying to close himself off when he didn't realize he was doing it. What was wrong? Everything had been so right.

Videl crossed the street and followed the bright lights of downtown in her dark clothes, some jeans and a baggy black shirt. He was close. And another question that kept bugging her was why he'd come _here_, in the middle of the noise and the crowd of the big city nightlife.

She followed the sidewalk until a lightless niche caught her eye. She had to stop to catch her breath. Not literally of course, but she needed to think.

It was only three weeks after they had started the second semester at school. They had been getting closer, far closer than they could ever have before. When memories of each other's past began to resurface... Right after and at first it had only been a vague feeling that seemed to bond to the feeling they had just in thinking about the other. Like warm or cold or soft or bright, only so complex that it was undefinable. And then specific things occurred in mind at the strangest times.

Like accepting each other. Gohan had a problem accepting himself. That was what he learned from the dream. Now, whether it was a good memory or a bad or an embarrassing that was remembered, the reaction wasn't what left you off-key, it was the feeling brought on. Sometimes it was hard. But they had made it through the first few days fine. It didn't get worse, either.

And it even led to a conversation about Videl's father. Gohan still had a baseless hate of the man, while Videl held a tiny sliver of hope buried somewhere that maybe one day... Well, they had gone to see him.

There was a balance between his fear of the weird-looking guys from so long ago and his hatred of this punk, not for stealing his daughter but for stealing the last piece of his wife that wasn't hollow and artificial. Even if he hadn't shown much concern for Videl, or care, or love, or attention, or pride no matter how easily she could have stood up to him... The fact that she was there at all was worth more to him than all that ego-stroking he felt he needed like water.

She would still be there. But he couldn't control her. And he had to get that through his skull. At least they got the message to him. What he did with it... Videl was sure he wouldn't try anything, but she wanted to fix their relationship eventually.

School had been less boring the second semester. Three of their electives had been only single semester courses, but they all had a continuance for the next level. Nothing too different. Things were just better than they had been.

That was before Gohan started acting funny. What about her? Videl realized. Had she become different? Was it both of them? Maybe an outside force... No, that was silly. It was something inside, something about how they were connecting so well.

She looked out onto the street, then up at the overcast night sky. It must have been nearing nine o'clock. Rain soon?

He had just... backed up a step. Maybe it was too much time with Hercule. Videl had panicked for a bit when she thought Gohan was afraid and trying to leave her alone. But that had passed quickly. Yet now, what could she think? She could think about him. Because he needed her help, now more than ever, probably.

Videl started to walk again. She could feel his presence getting stronger.

It had manifested as a coldness. Not when he thought about it, realized what he was doing, but he kept- Well, it was like when you're really tired and keep making mistakes because you can't tell you're doing them. You catch a few, but the others, they hit with full effect.

So he started talking a little less, and gradual distance separated them. Not when he could tell, no, those were the times just like always when they would be together because it felt good.

And it had reached a point. Gohan had just walked out. And now here he was. She was sure he was right by this corner. Somewhere near.

Glancing around she caught a figure in a black and green jacket over a blue shirt walking out of a store. That was him. Cookies! How dare he buy cookies without her! Grr...

I bought them for you, Love.

"Gohan," Videl gasped, walking across the empty street of the quieter north-downtown shopping district.

He looked standoffish. Hard thing to do, look standoffish. Videl opened her mouth to say something, but as the air flared up her nose it made her feel the way you do when water accidentally goes up your nostril. Her eyes started to tear.

"Shh..." Gohan put his arm around her.

She was suddenly angry. "Why the hell did you leave me like that? Where were you all day?"

He stayed calm, even as she stared daggers into his eyes with those glittering azure panes. "Um... Can I explain the whole thing instead?" He tried to give her something along the lines of a 'puppy-dog look'.

"Now," she ordered.

"Uh... Can we sit?"

She gestured to a bench and they sat.

"Okay." Gohan took a second, then turned to Videl and started. "Okay," he repeated, "the whole thing was just me not having a chance to think about all these changes."

"But-"

"Hey. Not that I haven't had time to think _about_ them, more getting used to them. Or accepting them. Or something. Sometimes I need to step back from life, admire or hate or get angry at it, then dive back in. What time in the last four weeks have you had to yourself?" He looked serious. "I mean, away from the telepathy thing, away from me, away from your life."

Videl looked away. "I don't need time, though..." She didn't sound very confident.

"Videl." He looked her in the eyes. "Most of the time when someone does this they don't even realize it. I think humans need it. But I kept messing up- my subconscious kept trying to get me away for some reason, and when I figured that out I decided to listen to it as soon as possible so I could come back and not have to worry about myself and our love and everything trying to fall apart for the sake of my mental health. I took a walk. I don't know why it helped, but it did. And I was gonna bring you cookies! Look!" He held them out and she snatched the little bag. Inside were two enormous, warm, gooey, scrumptious-looking chocolate chip cookies. She broke one and gave half to Gohan.

Chewing a corner, she asked, "Are you sure you're okay now?"

"Yup," he answered cheerfully.

"Good. But you worried me. I was afraid. I cried."

He bit his lip. "I didn't want to make you cry. I wasn't thinking too straight. Weird. Maybe my brain had to adjust or something so I could function. I'm sorry..."

"Don't say you're sorry. You should be, certainly, but you don't have to apologize if you didn't up and leave because if you love me I know-" Gohan interrupted her with a warm chocolate kiss.

Mmmm...

I do love you.

Love isn't supposed to be painful.

It isn't. People are. I should have told you-

And my feelings might have been hurt that you needed to get away from me.

You wouldn't have cried.

It would have been negative.

This wasn't?

This we can blame on a moment of temporary clarity. Or insanity. And insanity.

They had kind of forgotten their bodies, screaming for oxygen. With a gasp the kiss broke and they sat together in silence for a minute. Videl looked up at Gohan and said, "This feels like a good ending to something bad. And that something bad doesn't feel so bad."

"What happened, again?"

"Was that rhetorical or sarcastic?

"Serious. And confused."

"I think you needed some time alone. And that need caused a distance, until you actually went and... what's the word..."

"Fulfilled it?"

"Yeah, and I got all insecure and worried until I went out and found you and understood things. And that's where we are." She sighed.

"Why..." he trailed off.

"Yeah?" She felt that he hadn't wanted to finish it as soon as she asked.

"I was going to ask why you thought about your dad when you said 'insecure'. But a second later I realized the answer. Maybe I'm tired or something."

"It's late, isn't it?"

"Nine."

"Nn." Videl leaned into his shoulder and closed her eyes. The wind whispered down the street, blowing some old newspaper around. There was a little tree right next to the bench. Videl watched the scenery through the lull of Gohan's thoughts. But his focus changed and although she couldn't 'hear' anything, it didn't feel like he was blocking her out.

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" She asked tiredly.

"Hm? Can't you tell?"

"Nuh-uh. You won't even show it to yourself."

"So how... Look. I mean listen. I mean-"

Shhh...

A picture burst into her head, of herself. It was in the bedroom, and everything was black except for her above Gohan. She was looking down at him. She thought he was asleep. His eyelids were open just the barest slight crack, though.

And her eyes were afraid. They were scared of something, but emotion seemed to flow out of them as she caressed Gohan's cheek. Then the memory bent down and kissed Gohan's lips, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest before falling asleep.

The eyes were what stuck in Gohan's mind, though. That point right between fear and peace, or fear and relief, or fear and something, that seemed to convey a sense of trust.

Videl hugged Gohan and thought to him, "Let's go home."

-*-

Videl opened her eyes, breathing heavily with exhaustion. Was the light more intense than usual? It hurt... And the inside of her mouth felt like sandpaper. Maybe she was sick. Bile had risen in the back of her throat and left a bad taste.

Keep walking, she thought to herself. One foot in front of the other.

Where was Gohan? They'd been apart for the first time since arriving a week before and he'd suggested that they separate, go out a little bit further than normal... Probably knew she'd get lost. Wanted to start the 'really intense' training. Well, she'd made it! Yeah. Just a little hallucinating now. So she was thirsty. Shouldn't have practiced so hard. Time, that perspective devil... How long had she been gone?

There was the clock now. Three days! What-

Gohan?Where are you? Gohan...

Oh. There he was, on his back with his eyes closed. Meditating? Hmmm. The warm feeling in the back of her mind, was that his presence? Had he been trying to stay focused on her the entire time? Would he have experienced the hunger and thirst and all that bad feeling? Well, he looked like he might have been laying there for more than fifty hours...

Gohan? Videl thought to him. She kneeled down beside him and gently shook his arm. He tensed the muscles in his neck and then arched his head upwards, yawning. Videl put an arm under his head and hooked another under his knees. She was at the point where she could ignore any more stress put on her muscles or mind and let it pile numbly.

Gohan looked up into her face and opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. Instead, he put both arms around Videl's neck to give her an easier time of carrying him.

"Sorry I'm late. Got a little... lost," Videl said dryly as she plopped him on their bed.

"Are-" He started to cough, so she grabbed a jug of water and half-emptied it herself before letting him ease his throat. Gohan hadn't even had the luxury of saliva as long as she had. He'd been resting against the cool cool tile... Well, maybe not so cool with the arid heat the chamber had decided they needed to experience a bit of. It emanated in waves across the ground up to the central area of the 'oasis'. Which this little thing really was, heat or no heat.

When he could speak, Gohan restarted with, "Are you okay? I felt you doing exercises even after a full day wandering around in that heat and I was going to stop it and get you..."

But you didn't. She glared at him lightly. "I had fun!" Videl declared, putting on a sour face.

Gohan forced out a breath and ignored the sarcasm. "Are you hungry?"

Videl's dropped her facade and her body sagged. Her eyes had dark rings, and they were red from the moisture sucking heat. Gohan moved so he could support her with his arms. "No," she answered. "I'm tired more than anything..."

"Mm." Gohan kissed the corner of her lips and laid her down where he had just been. "You rest. I'll get food together and start a bath-"

"No. Stay with me." She loosely hooked an arm around one of his. Videl was already half-asleep, fighting for a few words.

"Okay, then." The corner of Gohan's lips fought to upturn. Not a real, happy smile, just that he was glad to help her, comfort her by giving her what she needed. The feeling was different than anything else he'd felt because he knew he'd caused this, at least partially. Guilt was with him, but he knew that he hadn't given in to selfishness.

Videl snuggled against his neck, letting Gohan wrap an arm around her shoulders. Love isn't pain, not at all, Gohan rationalized. Love is trust.

-*-

Days flew by like leaves, all the same, yet every new one discovered was so intrinsically different and beautiful. Never identical, no repetition, but following the same setting and the same characters.

Time slowed sometimes, time that was hard to see, like a river that slowed around the bends so you could admire little secret spots and appreciate how far you've come. That's what Valentine's Day was like for Gohan and Videl.

Nothing new of course, except for the increased activity all over school, some dance going on that night that seemed to have slipped the couple's minds, and all those guys massing what little courage they had to squeeze their heart out in front of some crush or other. It was like a game of hit and miss. When you already have someone, it makes you laugh when you step back and watch the attempts.

First period, second period, third period, teachers trying to grab the attention of students, creative assignments to fill another one of those days students aren't able to pay attention.

Videl got Gohan to ask other guys for her friends, to find out who likes who. Normal males might feel as though this is traitorous behaviour, letting 'the enemy' know the devastating emotional weight they're carrying... And that was how Videl played matchmaker for some fun.

"A dance?" Gohan was walking in front of Videl walking backwards.

"What, afraid you'll embarrass yourself?" She knew that wasn't the case, but it was fun to tease.

"It's such short notice... And why don't we just-"

"Gohan, I wanna go to the dance!" Videl tested out her cutest pout.

"But-" Videl noticed that Gohan looked a little stressed out over this little thing.

"What's the problem? It'll be so fun!"

"Oh, nothing." He turned to walk beside her and kicked a rock. "My stomach feels funny."

Videl felt something new from him; resignation. The word itself was hard to pin on him, but it spread like a cascading waterfall. He had said that last bit about his stomach in such a way as Videl almost didn't notice, but she asked, "What's wrong with your stomach?"

He looked a little surprised. "Nothing, really. Just a little... swishy? I dunno. No big deal."

"Hmph," Videl breathed, laying her head on his shoulder. This felt a little... awkward. He didn't want to go to the dance, but he was still going, and she was acting intimate for no reason other than that she could. Why was this making her feel so... It was Gohan. Some unconscious emotion was tumbling down on her and making her feel like she had done something wrong. Guilt? Could be. What had she done?

"Gohan?" she asked sweetly.

"What, love?"

She kissed his jaw where it met the ear and whispered, "Stop."

It was a command. It took him a second to realize that and he was already a step ahead of her. She had slid her head smoothly off his shoulder and grabbed both of his arms, turning his body to face her.

Staring into his eyes she asked, "Are you still my friend?"

This caught Gohan off-guard. What a strange question. Humph. Oh course, in his confusion he stared blankly at her like a fish.

"I mean, we have fun and we are sweetly in love and all that, but sometimes I feel like there are problems we don't talk about. Stupid things, feelings I get from you that last less than minutes, but if I never bring them to the fore you'll never get them out. Why don't you want to go to the dance? Is that even the problem? I..." She stopped. Gohan looked like he had something to say.

He took a shallow breath, then another, and then said, "To tell you the truth... I wish you hadn't cornered me." He was staring into her sapphire eyes and that was hard for him, always. Because it felt like she could look into his soul, and without knowing it, she did. "Since... Well, whenever something happens that I don't like, it only makes sense to me to change what I wanted to fit whatever is possible. I had..." he paused to grin, "other plans for tonight."

Videl pressed her lips together and looked wistful, all the fiery spirit of caring leaking out of her. "Oh. Ooooops." She looked up. "Sorry."

Gohan put an arm around her shoulders and restarted their homeward walk. "I figured we could just leave the dance early and I could go through with my plan... You would probably be way too tired if we danced until two in the morning. Well, maybe. 'The limits of human endurance...'"

"I happen to be above average, you know."

"But when you haven't been completely geared toward 'the fight' and your body isn't pumping adrenaline, or at least isn't focused completely on the task at hand, how is it going to keep you any more energized than the next person? And personally, dancing for more than five hours? I-"

"We wouldn't dance the _whole _time!" Videl bopped him in the back of the head.

"I knew that! But wouldn't you rather be moving in a perfect rhythm with someone so that the rest of the world isn't there for the entire thing than pausing to rest your weary feet and _talk_? I do believe that we talk far more than any other couple we happen to have the great privilege of knowing."

"Humph." She smirked. "What if we get thirsty?"

"Well..." Gohan laughed this tiny laugh that didn't leave his throat and sounded melodic.

"Oh, you!" Videl tried to be even a little bit miffed at the image of soul-deep kisses instead of taking a break for drinks. But...

"I didn't mean to think of it, I swear!" he continued in an undertone, "Although, I made sure you saw it..."

I could feel it.

That sounds nice. Thought-kisses?

Wanna try it?

Why n-

Several seconds of complete silence grabbed hold and didn't break until they reached the apartment. When they got there, they kissed physically, intensely, though any observer would have guessed they were trying to become one with the wall. Good thing the cameras were recorders and not closed circuit.

When they managed to enter the apartment, they stopped what they had been doing. What a ticklish sensation, thought-kissing! Gohan wanted to giggle for joy of the idea.

Five hours and some fancy dress clothes later, the couple departed for the Valentine's Day dance.

When they returned three hours after that, it was with weary feet and a happy feeling. The floor had gotten too crowded, and they figured it was already late enough.

"Gohan? I'm tired..."

"One minute, one minute." He slid through the door of the bedroom and grabbed something off of the bookshelf. "I was going to do other stuff, but that dance was to fun to stop any earlier."

Videl smiled, then yawned. "I don't know how everyone else was still going so strong..."

"They arrived later. A secret of dances, I guess." Gohan thought that was amusing.

"I liked how it went."

"So did I."

"So what _is_ that?" She tried to look at the box he'd hidden behind his back, getting up from the couch to peer around him, but he switched to the other hand and twirled around.

"Nope. Let me put it on you and then look. You can open it, though..."

"How am I-"

"Just keep your eyes closed and I'll move your hands. Promise."

"I promise."

Gohan sat on the floor in front of the couch, using it to lean against. They did this so often that they never bothered to move the glass coffee table back... Videl sat in front of him, quite sensual in a stunning green dress.

Gohan gently trailed his hands down her arms and when he put his palms on the back of her hands their fingers entwined softly but like unbreakable thread. About then Gohan noticed what a comfortable position they were in, with Videl pressed against him, and he took the opportunity to kiss her neck while guiding her hands in opening the black case. It was about six inches long and one and a half inches wide, with something flexible and metallic laid out on the tiny cushion inside.

"Is it a necklace?" Videl asked.

"Shh," Gohan answered.

He took it out and put it around Videl's neck, letting her hold her waist-length hair aside for him. When he was finished, she looked down at the thing.

Its chain was sized so that it hung down three inches from her throat, that chain of links so fine they might have been woven like silk. It was stronger than titanium, however. And what hung from the necklace, the important part; Videl knew Gohan, and that he had a particular belief about jewelry- To him, it meant something. And whatever meaning it has to you is generally so important that you don't take off that thing. Wherever that thought had sprung up, even he had no idea, but that meant he'd put a lot into this gift.

At first it seemed like a glass or crystal cylinder, maybe one inch long and a little less than a centimeter wide. Videl felt a moment of frustration like a spike from Gohan, but suddenly the cylinder filled with two spiraling strands, like DNA.

One could have been fire, yellows and whites and reds and oranges sharply visible to Videl's keen eye. The other was a tiny blue line, almost invisible, but when you caught it and stared at it, its light grew in your eyes until it was the brightest thing in your vision.

She wanted to gasp, be amazed, love it forever, but her first reaction was to blink. A moment caught out of time. Thank you, it's beautiful, what paltry words! This was- Well, it drove her speechless. The meaning was so simple, yet so incredibly expressed. At what cost...

Videl sighed. Gohan smiled. She was overwhelmed, and that was pleasing to him.

"I," Gohan sang like a lullaby into her ear, "love, you..."

-*-

White-hot fury filled Videl's veins. She couldn't see that who she was fighting was Gohan. She couldn't see herself. This was the harshest battle yet, and maybe the most important.

Videl rushed Gohan again, twirling beneath his block and trying to land a kick to the chest. By the time she got a foot out, he was twenty feet away. They flew together, a hurricane of electricity when blows hit, firestorms when they missed. Energy attacks only added another angle to the art, making the whole thing not only graceful but intense as well. Videl was using several methods Gohan didn't know, trying to keep him off-guard by differentiating as fast as he could understand and counter.

It was mindless after a long enough time. This was what began to anger Videl. She was trying! This was the best she could do! And Gohan had no qualms with having fun! He was having fun while she was-

So she tried harder. It was a vicious feeling, setting out to hurt someone because what they were doing made you feel bad. And while her blows got more ragged, they also got stronger and harder to keep up with.

"Videl?"

No answer. Dodge, block, explosion.

"Videl! What's wrong?"

Still no answer. Frustrating. Gohan stopped completely, moving fast enough that Videl couldn't land a blow but not trying for any himself.

That got her attention quick. "GOHAN! What the hell are you doing!" Her eyes were wide and bloodshot. That wasn't a good sign. "I'm NOT finished yet!" And with that she caught him in the leg with a chop, causing him to twist and roundhouse.

"Videl! Why don't we take a break? You don't look too good." Understatement of the year.

She couldn't hear him, or was to tired to pay attention. Like a distance runner, after the first two miles or so you just keep putting your feet down one in front of the other. Just keep pressing or you'll be so tired you won't be able to stop. Her attacks began to get increasingly more brutal- she was practically using herself as a sledgehammer. When she was close, Gohan could hear her saying in a screaming whisper over the furious wind and noise they were creating, "Must...better... not enough! Not ENOUGH! I..." And it made him worry.

On her next flyby, Gohan grabbed her shoulders, got her into a lock from the front. Videl countered this by zooming high into the 'sky' to a dizzying height, trying to slam him into the ground. At the same time, she used her free forearms to club Gohan's ears.

When they were a short distance from the ground, Gohan decided that the only way he was going to stop Videl was to get her unconscious. It made sense, with the way her eyes had shrunk so that white and red were far more prominent than blue. She had gone into some sort of hysterical episode, outside of herself.

Videl didn't let him twist to slam her into the ground, however. They stopped, and their embrace disengaged. Videl leaped to a spot within speaking distance.

"What's wrong? Why can't you fight?"

She was taunting him. Who was this Videl?

"You don't want to use any kind of forced wit' a poor girl like me?" Her exaggerated tone of hurt sounded insulting.

She rushed him, with a fist to the face that he could hear swishing through the air where his head had been, and then a punch at the gut that let him catch her arm. This brought her face to his ear, where she whispered, "Why don't you help me? You could give me the strength I need! But you won't. Daddy would be so proud."

Gohan's eyes went wide. Is that what she was after? How lucid was she? This didn't make too much sense, especially not in the heat of a fight and in the middle of all this action.

"Oh, I'd forgotten. You killed him..."

Time seemed to freeze. His breath caught in his throat. A monster. It wasn't Videl. Couldn't be her. This was a monster. Videl had experienced his memories. She knew what had happened, had felt as bad as he did when she would wake up in the night after bad dreams about his past.

"You must have loved him more than me..."

Was this a nightmare? That sentence didn't make sense. If he had really hurt his father, how could someone infer that he loved his father so much more? Gohan tried to stay calm. Videl was still caught in his arm.

She said something else. He didn't hear. There was a decision point in front of him. He made a choice that he didn't like, and it was something he would never do again. The punch he threw at her was filled with pure malice, with anger, and Gohan would never be able to excuse that kind of cowardice.

It connected solidly. Videl was thrown back, but launched herself at him again.

"Stop Gohan, stop Gohan, stop," he was whispering to himself. His entire body quaked as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to calm himself down. The sting of tears didn't help. But a thought occurred to him, something that might work.

Nothing physical could have gotten him angry. He was the picture of calm, and he was the type who knew how to handle a situation. He shut down his response to anything she could say.

Blows hit home while he was focused on stopping himself. Videl was lashing back in a hate-filled rage. Tears ran freely from Gohan's eyes as she sliced his sides, elbowed his kidneys, kicked him by the chest twenty feet.

But then she asked, "Why don't you love me enough to do this?"

It wasn't in context. Gohan heard it like a chime, over the storm, the racing wind, the thunder, and his mind tried to wrap itself around the meaning of that. It hurt, more than any of the other things she had said. He couldn't see that this wasn't something he would do out of love, or just didn't think that was true. So he stood and walked calmly over to her. She stared at him, and he knew this wasn't his Videl.

But he raised his hand, put it to her head, and fired.

She screamed in torment. It was the worst sound he had ever heard, but it wasn't as painful as those words. There was something in his mind compelling him to do everything for love. Anything. Because he needed it, feared losing it maybe? Or because he was so bound by it, so dedicated... Or something. Either way didn't sound too healthy a state of mind.

When he was done, Videl collapsed from where she had been held off of the ground by his energy. She had wanted his power, and he had given it to her.

Gohan fell to his knees beside her, tears in his eyes, and hugged her body as he rocked back and forth.

When she woke, she jumped away from where they had both been leaning against one another. Gohan was up in a second, yelling at her.

"That's enough!"

Videl rushed at Gohan again, would have ripped through his upper body with her shin if he hadn't dodged.

"Videl! God, stop!"

She was burning off the excess, still a little in shock and trying to follow the last commands her mind had ordered before being knocked out.

THAT'S ENOUGH!!!

It acted like a splash of cold water, or, more realistically, plugging in your earphones to find that somehow your music was turned up to full volume. Gunshot-style ittai. Videl froze. And didn't move. Gohan flew up to collect her, her body becoming limp as he put an arm under her knees and one behind her head.

Why had she pushed so hard? Why had he pushed so hard? Gohan wanted to scream, to beg for the answer. What was so wrong? You are who you are. You don't need to prove anything by strength. Didn't their love function on the principle that whatever you do can be forgiven? That was his side, anyway. Videl was everything. Yet, he had hurt her. That wasn't love. What would happen when she woke up?

Gohan landed on the side of the palatial little oasis thingy, where the bathhouse was. Ugh! How many days straight had they gone without returning? It was getting easier, and his base level was rising. That meant that his strength would rise some in super-Saiyan form, but meant more that his endurance was rising in both forms. Not sustaining endurance, like when he and his father had gone all those days as super-Saiyans until it was easy, but pain tolerance, the length the fight could be. Not that they expected to need it, except against each other. But it might be fun. Vegeta was the only problem, since he had been training daily for seven years, but Gohan had been training off and on in intervals that were like uber-boosts making up for lost time. Only when he'd needed to, but how often was that?

Gohan laid Videl against the inside wall of the bathhouse. A lot of things here were bigger than he remembered them... He stripped to take a bath.

Videl was the reason they were training, Gohan reminded himself. Training until you drop isn't a good way to train, but she had increased her ability by a full half before today. That was incredibly far, yet... And now she was beyond even that. When he had given her his power way back when, he had fulfilled her potential. Like his father and the Kaio-ken, or the transformation to super-Saiyan, there is a level you can be boosted to. But beyond that takes training. He had known this before. So when he gave her more power... It had hurt. Like when his father had used the ten-times Kaio-ken that first time. It was beyond potential, might have torn her apart. He could have killed her...

Gohan immersed himself and sat down with the wall opposite Videl at his back. She looked the way he felt.

Videl's body tensed as she snapped awake. The steam calmed her though, and she sat up quietly. Looking across the bathhouse she found herself staring straight into Gohan's dark eyes. So dark you could get lost in them, lost in a moment of perfect clarity between two people...

She stood, trying not to let his eyes find hers, stripped, and practically dived into the water. Videl soaped up and rinsed, and in those five minutes not a word was exchanged. Videl handed the sponge to Gohan. For a single tentative moment in the unbreakable silence her eyes met his again and she noticed that he hadn't moved a millimeter.

Her eyes were locked. She struggled to budge a muscle, any muscle, but all they did was strain and quiver. Sight wavered, and there must have been tears behind her eyes. Her throat felt like it was closing, like her tears were already stinging her palette. Some sort of truth was found in the other's eyes, but Videl didn't seem to remember exactly what had happened. Confusion, shards of memory... She managed to turn away an eternity of a moment later. When hot tears ran down her face, it somehow surprised Videl to find Gohan's arms wrapped around her.

She was a fragile, quaking mess of tears that held his body like a lifeline. The water moved around them, and the ends of Videl's hair floated where they had grown long enough. Her sobs made the only sounds.

Shh...

What... What happened?

Gohan held her tighter. She couldn't remember. More bad dreams. But he was here, he'd always be here for her. An exception, though. What had he done? He had- No. Never again, no matter the circumstances, would he ever touch her in anger. No matter the mind-twisting conditions and hurtful words or the situation's necessity. Doubt, like the first crack in the cornerstone, it was in the back of his mind where he held firmly his love. There was this feeling, however, this soothing wave of warmth pouring into him that kept that doubt at bay.

Eventually she quieted down and the stark contrast between power and brittleness resided. She was so warm in his arms... That was when Gohan realized they were both still nude. It didn't bother him, not much, but something had just happened again, some new link or window or cord between them had been forged. All of these little bad things and distancing problems and everything only served to make them closer.

So he would embrace that. They would become closer without any more pain.

Staring over her shoulder, Gohan's gaze found the little necklace he'd given her. Tracing its chain with his finger, he passed the cylinder and put an arm around her waist. 'A symbol of the power of your love' the woman had said. Those first few seconds when he thought it wouldn't work...

Gohan rested his head against Videl's neck, enjoying her warmth.

-*-

March twenty-sixth.

It rained. That was incredibly strange, but hey, April showers...

Gohan and Videl danced in the rain to music only they could hear. People probably thought they were crazy, twirling at the ends of each other's arms by centrifugal force. Around and around, laughing, loving.

They visited Chi-chi that night, had dinner, talked. Everyone seemed to be getting over what had happened. At least a little bit. It could have been a ripple effect of Gohan's own feelings, which had always been so emphatic that they may have spilled over his family's and affected them.

April first was a quiet day. They took off from school to walk in the park. A nice picnic lunch on a hill served as the best part of the day, due especially to having two great cooks in the family.

I don't like losing people I love.

That doesn't give you the right to commit suicide.

Why not? I love life dearly, I swear! But I don't mind death. And I don't know how I could stand loneliness again. It was such an empty life...

Love. If you're gonna kill yourself, do it on some mindless quest to right my death by facing off against a great evil enemy. At least that way you have the chance of accomplishing something.

What if you die in some other, simpler way?

Gohan burst out laughing. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the clouds. Clouds always seemed so beautiful to him... Maybe because they were always mountainous and puffy and centered on the sun like some great sky mosaic just for him. But he was drawn to wonder how they had even started talking about death.

Gohan moved closer to Videl, laying stomach-down on the blanket, and began to run a hand through her hair. The sun was warm today, he noticed.

Gohan...

What?

We aren't that invincible. Didn't your dad almost die from a virus?

Okay, so? I don't plan on dying. If I die, I wouldn't mind you being right there with me. But here is where you can affect things, right? What's after is supposed to be limitless and a whole lot better, but if what's here determines what's there, we should fight for here.

Yeah. I just...

Hey, there's always the dragonballs, right?

That brought a smile.

I'd like to see that 'Great Dragon' thing.

'Eternal Dragon'.

Well, excuse me!

I dunno. It's almost a cheap trick, now, how we can cheat death that way. But why not? I only plan on dying at the hands of someone in defense of someone, and unnatural death is the only time you're allowed to be revived. I wonder if that includes 'acts of god'...

Isn't that an insurance term?

I suppose. Humph.

Wanna get going?

Mm-hm.

I had a nice day. Thank you.

Oh the things I do for love...

Videl punched him lightly in the shoulder, then met his lips in a feather-light kiss.

-*-

"Gohan," Videl whispered.

It was black in the little alcove where the beds were. After so long in the light, it was a nice respite.

Videl laid her head back down on Gohan's chest. She had been crying, using his bare chest as a pillow. Dreams didn't want to be nice to her.

Gohan, if you're awake... I want to ask you a question.

She could feel him, feel that he was conscious in some part of his mind. Poking him, she brought his attention to her.

Videl?

Gohan... do you hate me?

His mouth hung open. What a way to wake up.

"Videl? That's a childish question. Besides, I couldn't hate you, ever."

"I... I just had some strange dreams."

Gohan put his arms around her back. "What kind of dreams, honey?" he asked. But he already knew.

Videl could feel that he knew and didn't answer. After a few minutes, Gohan asked her, "Do you love me?"

It didn't come as quick as his response, but she answered, "Of course. I just... I'm sorry. I feel terrible. I can't even remember exactly what I did, but I think you have more reason to hate me than I do to hate you..."

"I asked a different question because I'm not worried about your hate or my hate. I can deal with hate. If you didn't love me, though..."

"Why does everything feel artificial all of a sudden?"

"In what way?"

"I just... it feels like something went wrong and didn't get fixed."

"Will it go away if we ignore it?"

"It might... If we don't accept it, then maybe it can't exist."

"What is 'it'?"

"Whatever it was that went wrong."

"Okay..."

"Let's try to sleep. This day has been exhausting enough." She paused. "I love you."

Gohan kissed the top of her head. "I love you more."

"Oh yeah?"

Gohan moved his hands to two very vulnerable spots and would have siezed the attack if Videl hadn't thought-whispered, 'You won't tickle me.' Simple as that.

Aw, he would get her in the morning...

-*-

"Ring," said the door.

This had never happened very often, and Videl was busy in the kitchen so she called, "Gohan, door!!" over the music, which would have woken the neighborhood if the walls hadn't been soundproofed.

She didn't hear anything for a few minutes, but the music turned down suddenly. What could merit something as harsh as that? Emergency?

Videl stepped out into the living room in an apron covered with flour and other things. She sucked in a huge breath when she saw who was there. Hercule.

Had she needed to, she would have shot a look at Gohan. Instead she asked, Why didn't you warn me?

He thought-smiled. I wanted to surprise you...

Grr.

How would she deal with this? It had already been a second or two and no words had been spoken. Gohan's apron caught her eye. He had just been going to change. They didn't need this right now, the first day of Spring Break.

So she played an ace. Running up to the boisterous Mr. Satan, Videl threw her hands around his neck and yelled, "Daddy! How have you been? I haven't seen you in so long! Why don't you come into the kitchen? We were just baking some snacks..."

Hercule looked a little out of sorts. Videl had noticed right away what a feat it was for him to be here, now, alone, and then to be welcomed like this. She smiled at the thought that she had shut him up. Good. At least then she didn't have to think about who he thought he was. Did that make any sense?

I swear, nothing is supposed to make sense ever, is it?

What?

Nothing...

You're cute when you improvise, did you know that?

Really? Cuter than when I'm baking? Or when I first wake up?

Not really cuter than when you first wake up- Then you have the hair thing going for you.

Videl giggled, making Hercule blink. Still less than a minute had passed since he had entered the apartment.

Looking around the kitchen, Hercule goggled. There must have been over a two hundred cookies, brownies, muffins, and more.

"Uh... Hiya honey!" he finally managed to find his tongue, greeting Videl a little belatedly. "Is this all for you?"

"Of course," Videl declared. Turning to Gohan she said, "Go turn the music back on.""

"Well, you always did have a healthy appetite..."

Videl gestured to the table. "What brings you here dad?" she asked as they sat down.

"I- um... Just wanted to see how you were doing! Yeah! I think I'll go now, though, because I have this big... thing... today! Yeah. It's nice to see you're doing good, honey! I'll be going now!" He stood to leave.

"No no, don't leave!"

"I have to, though. You know me."

Did that carry deeper meaning?

"At least take some cookies dad. They're fresh." She grabbed a baggie-full and thrust it at him. Hercule grabbed it, getting caught unawares in the hug coming his way.

"Visit more often," Videl whispered.

Her father smiled awkwardly and left the room, brushing by Gohan.

When the door closed, Gohan said, "That was abrupt."

"Yeah."

"He's trying."

"That's good."

"He took my cookies!"

"Oh me, oh my."

"Garsh durn it to blinking Joe!" Gohan snapped his fingers in an faux-angry gesture.

"Such harsh words!" Videl smiled.

"Life seems to be getting better."

"Relationships are healing."

"And getting stronger."

"I wonder what's next?"

-*-

Do you still remember my entire life? Videl asked.

I... more by feel. Vague notions of what happened. Like a dream. Where did that come from?

Gohan continued to do the exercise, mimicking Videl's every move by intuition instead of sight. It had taken a while, but they were getting there.

Just that I was thinking...

Yes?

Videl grunted, speeding up the pace. Sweat was pouring down both of their faces as gravity fluctuated incredibly near the 'poles' of wherever they were. And the conditions were harsher, more random, pushing even their limits.

We're supposed to know each other and...

Hum?

One second. Got to focus. Videl bit back a minor profanity as she exerted herself. It was angering her that she had this one thought and couldn't finish it without stopping. Why couldn't she? It wasn't that difficult! God. She was starting to really loathe this place. Looking back on how far she'd come, though...

Are you okay?

Yeah! Ooh. Sorry. Just that I was wondering why you're so... strong for me. I feel weak sometimes. I don't know. Not that I don't love it and appreciate it and need it... Just that-

Ya know what?

Gohan was sweating profusely, struggling to keep on par with Videl.

What?

I think that- I have way more problems than you- But that- "Urgh!" I help myself by helping you! "Grrr..." This is getting tough.

Smiles appeared on their faces at the same time. It was like training to think in tandem.

I still feel that-

Videl! I find strength in just being able to hold you! You seem to find your strength in me, myself! Do you want to stop?!

Um... Yeah!

They stopped the exercises.

Am I an object? If you had someone else to hold-

Of course not. I meant that in helping you, the one that I love, I feel better than if I had helped myself.

Mm. Just wondering.

It's always good to explore every meaning. That way you can find the true truth.

When they got back to the oasis, Videl thought to Gohan, Can't we talk _yet_?

C'mon! Imagine fighting like one, we'd completely blow away any enemy...

Who? Gohan, you said yourself once- You became the strongest being in the universe. When you're absolutely sure of something like that, and then you go on to become stronger instead of getting weaker and forgetting how to be strong, who could possibly stop you?

Never make assumptions like that! What about Babidi?

Oh, right, those guys were _soooo_ strong!

Blech. There was someone behind them. And there's always someone behind the guy behind the guy. And the super evil bad guy has the big boss who has the enemy who just found out how to kick everybody's ass!

Maybe.

Maybe.

My mouth wants to be opened!

Kiss me.

Maybe.

Harumph.

Hey, Gohan?

Yeeeesss?

I know you're kindof busy at the moment, what with your lips glued to mine, but do you remember those swords I brought in with us?

The ones we haven't seen since?

Yeah, those.

Are you going to teach me how to use them?

Yeah.

In a little while.

Okay.

-*-

I think we should find you a personal trainer before the tournament!

Aw, c'mon.

Don't be embarrassed. You have incredible aptitude. In a week you could be better than me with the sword.

Let's just go home.

Everything's packed?

Yup.

Videl and Gohan had switched from the generic white training gi's to the clothes they had worn on entrance. It would be dark when they exited. It hadn't lasted quite an entire year...

You need a haircut.

Gohan's hair had already been as long as his father had cut it that first time in the Room, since he had kept up the spiky style his dad perpetuated, but now it was past his shoulders.

Well, you only look more beautiful after all this time.

Videl blushed, feeling reproached.

Hey, she said, How will we tell our birthdays? I know we'll probably keep the same ones, but they won't be real...

Ya know, I asked Dende that once. He told me that your body attempts to find an equilibrium with the universe so it messes with your body clock until you're grown a full cycle more or a full cycle less. I'm not sure how long a real 'cycle' is, though...

Well?

Gohan sighed. Let's go.

Videl looked around.

I don't think I'll miss it. It was fun, but it felt... transitive. Like a train on the way to somewhere.

I think we changed a lot.

For the better?

What do you think?

I love you more every day.

Gohan smiled.

And it feels like there was never a good way to talk before we could think to each other.

We're a dangerous combination.

Too bad they don't have a team competition at the Budoukai.

Yeah.

They each put a hand on the door handle and pulled together, dim sunlight meeting their eyes.

-*-

"This is going to be fun."

"Anxiety?"

"A little bit."

"Don't worry."

Videl bit her lip and looked around the room again.

"I said 'don't worry'." Gohan took her hand and Videl closed her eyes, pirouetting and curling Gohan's arm around her.

"This feels dark," Gohan whispered into her ear, conveniently next to his mouth. He wasn't able to resist the urge to nibble it, either.

"It must be me. A whole year?"

"Videl," Gohan whined, "we've been planning this since like forever!" In a more serious tone, he whispered, "Everything will be alright."

"I just have this feeling..."

"It'll only be one day. Plus flight time."

"Okay. Last minute jitters. This feels weird. I've never been on an extended vacation before. A whole year..."

"We might not even stay the entire year."

"Really?"

"Do you think we'll need it?"

"Okay, then."

"Well, I'm ready, you're ready, do you have the stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to wait another day? We still have three weeks left in July. If you want to-"

"Gohan! I know you have this meticulously planned out. And I don't want more than this little break in training. We have a year, but we _only_ have a year."

He smirked. "Goodie. Let's go!"

---|=||\|


	10. Author's Note

Original chapter eight author's notes:  
  
  
Ohayo.  
  
It's been three weeks. I'm sorry. *begs for forgiveness* I DIDN'T MEAN IT! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!!!  
  
j/k. Every idea was scrapped as crap until last wednesday, when I suddenly started writing and couldn't stop. It was done Friday night, but the library had closed early... *grumbles* But that was another three-day chapter! I've still got the magic! *dances a jig*  
  
This chapter went wrong. What it was was the hint of a flaw in Gohan and Videl's love no matter how far they've come. I didn't like that! When they say 'it feels artificial' that was how I was feeling at the moment after rereading it. A problem didn't get solved. That could be a plot point later! Yay! The strength of their love will be tempered in the fire of my mind- later. But mentioning wrongness: My series itself just feels... off. I think that that feeling comes from how on TV they use BGMs to affect your emotions during scenes. Something always feels like it's missing and a writer has to fill in that space, be the manipulator of your emotions. How am I doing? Ya know, that would make a great fantasy fic- Every story you write is actually an enchantment spell. Let's tie all fiction together under dungeons and dragons! Yay!  
  
I didn't write in a lemon portion because it doesn't fit. I'd say it might be safe to assume they 'did it' but that might become a crucial plot point later, so I won't make any guesses as to their private business *cough*. It would have been really sweet, too!  
  
I hope to have the ninth chapter out very very soon. Give me a minute to catch my breath and I'll dive right back in. This should go fast. The Tenkichi Budoukai! I think I may have spelled that wrong...  
  
I need to stress the point that Buu is not the end-all evil in my story. Babidi is a two-bit(a dumbass sunuvabitch) who happens to be able to unlock a mega-uberweapon(Buu). There are better than him. But since the method by which Buu will be defeated isn't a readily available solution, the plot shall continue! ACC evil villians! Yay! An intergalactic hierarchy! Buu should keep you guys reading until chapter twelve or thirteen, though.  
  
Oh yeah... Does anyone else besides me save ffnet stuff to document files? I was wondering if anyone had copied my author's notes(the ones not included in the chapters) seperatly, 'cause I wanted to put them together to answer the questions of people first reading this fic... And I think the only two questions on the actual review page were those I answered after chapter five... Durn, I have to get a printout of the reviews to go along with my hardcopy of the story...  
  
My website will be nicer once I get eye-candy. http://www.geocities.com/sageseeker777  
  
My Evangelion fic got out of it's six-month prereading session. (That's what I get for writing a thirty page poem) I reccomend that anyone who looked at the prologue and first chapter on my site(the only parts posted) read the whole thing through. That first half wasn't the better half.  
  
I WUV YOU ALL!  
Vash-san: ^_^ \/ Love and Peace! \/ ^-^  
~Sage7  
"Man shall always seek his heaven, but what of when he finds it?" 


	11. Review response #8(?)

Ummmmmmmmmm....  
  
Reviews are so _k3w1_!!  
  
Gie:  
  
The only way to write this chapter was to start in the ROSAT because I was having major trouble *getting there* which was what I wanted to do. I interspersed little vignette-ish memory scenes leading through the six months before they entered. All of the ROSAT scenes were in order, and all of the memories were in order, just shuffled a bit.  
  
Ya know my science teacher from last year(who was my science teacher for five years at that school I went to for nine years) always said she was confuzzed... It's a wonderful state to be in, ne? *remembers End of Evangelion*  
  
AnimeAngelVidel:  
  
And I love you! *spins around in circles*  
  
Van lover:  
  
I'm gonna get more detailed, but the words were more important when the world gets that repetitive..  
  
I wish I could find _more_ 'real' Gohan/Videl stories:( Good luck!  
  
I was going to email you to ask you if you would write your thoughts as you read the chapter(like my best friend sometimes does for me) so that I can improve or add. He was the one who reminded me about how Videl was going to get that huge energy boost thingy. Good thing he did...  
  
I wouldn't mind help on a lemon thingy, like I write a part and then you do, back and forth, correcting each other's and stuff, but I don't want to do that until later. I might do it after I get far in the fic, post it seperately, and call it a side-story. Or a sub-story. Depends on how vital to the plot...  
  
Tamashii no Unmei means "My soul's destiny". I got it from the songs Zankoku no Tenshi Teeze, and Tamashii no Refuran(I didn't know enough japanese a month ago to compose a good title from scratch) Maybe I should post the meaning of the title in the summary. But that stops the lure of the simple gaijin percentage of my audience.  
  
Serena:  
  
Your reviews do the same for me that you say my story does for you;)  
  
Saiyan Serpent:  
  
I had hoped to emphasize how deeply connected they were, that they didn't even need words, articulating thoughts loosely based on the feelings of the other... but that didn't work. They got really close, and I wuv it too!  
  
jean:  
  
As soon as I pointed out what you did, I forgot what you did.  
  
Summanaro:  
  
I don't use "..."'s with thoughts. Except in the prologue, where Chi-chi and Piccolo talk, that's supposed to be Gohan's hazy mind thinking they were his own thoughts or something like that.  
  
Kuko-chan:  
  
It's not my fault, I swear!  
  
Panchi-chan:  
  
Mmm... cookies...  
  
Wiegraf:  
  
*huggles Wiegraf* (Nothing else I can say. Thank you.)  
  
  
Lastly- Yes, I _am_ a fifteen year old *male*. Girls are so kewl, though! And much more kawaii than guys... *grins*  
  
From before:  
  
To Betsy:  
Garsh durn it! Why the HFiL does everyone think I'm a girl? Is it because of my sensitive nature and great creative ability? No! It's because I chose a damn gender-neutral pseudonym! *feels like Ranma*  
  
To Erica:  
You offered, so expect a mail eventually...  
  
To Summanaro:  
Laziness? I was doing 3-day and 2-day waits between chapter before the fifth, and even then I compensated with chapter length(didn't really mean too, heheh, but I did compensate!) until the seventh chapter, which was in the middle of a depressing time and didn't come out so well, and now the eighth, which took three weeks because of time, real life, depression, non-inspiration, school, and some other things.  
  
To Dragonking:  
You should get off of ffnet. Or at least into some higher circles. I've read thousands and thousands of fics myself(I have a personal archive of something like 65000 pages) and I have to say that the best came from the series that hooked me into ff's- Evangelion. All hail Strike Fiss and Higher Learning! 45 chapters already! http://24.81.215.24/eva.html http://www.studioshinnyo.com/  
Good evafic archive! http://www.geocities.com/seele_hq/Archive/index.htm  
Good review sites!  
http://www.eva.onegeek.org/efrs/  
http://www.geocities.com/seele_hq/main.html  
  
Email me. Let's talk fiction! 


	12. *sigh*

Konban wa, tamodachi-chan-chan.  
  
Oi... I feel bad to post this, but with the first eight chapters out within a month and the latest having taken three weeks, I didn't want to keep anyone in suspense- I haven't been working on it! *starts crying waterfalls*  
  
Real life, plus 250,000 pages of Ranmaficton on rec.arts.anime.creative and I'm being pulled away. That plus the fact that this story went awry somewhere and stopped serving as an outlet... Ick. I want to work on it. But... Ya know, I have four story arcs plotted out(loosely;) and a huge overarc that could take me two years to write like some of the best. So I haven't given up. But there is a draw away from DBZ. I may just say 'screw it!' and twist the story into an inane new plot that stops all this badness I'm feeling towards it(I used to be *looking forward* to the challenge of redoing the budokai in bigger, better terms) and since I don't want to drive myself into a rut, I'm not writing. That last chapter must have been it, I think. There was something I wanted in there that didn't get in. Probably the true level of the new intimacy Videl has with Gohan. And that one dark scene... You might know the one.   
  
"...a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises..."  
-Simon and Garfunkle,  
"The Boxer"  
  
~Sageseeker7777  
I give you a 'kisu na tamashii'. Godblessedbe. 


	13. 1 and 12 years later

Aw, nuts. Jen-chan is also the name of one of the sweetest girls I've ever met.  
  
No, I'm not gay, Shadow. I suppose you could say I was emotionally bisexual- I could love a guy, but never do anything physical with him. But girls? I WUV girls! They're so soft n cuddly and warm and smart and for some reason they can all beat me up even though I'm 210lbs. y tengo mucho ablidades de los artes martiales.  
  
GRR! Strong like bull!  
*smell like one too  
  
Just kidding. I don't smell like a bull, really!  
  
This story froze one year and four months ago. I have been working on the sequel, but since I plan on having my associate in arts with a major in information techonology, going to the Massachusetts Institue of Technology for my bachelor's degree in the dual major of computer networking and foreign languge(multiple emphasis), and later in life to MIT for my doctorate(prob theoretical physics or some such), and also to Stanford for my Master's degree in international business, I haven't had so much time for writing. Blech. Too many AP courses.  
  
So I apologize to the world. However, I am writing the sequel, just that it is squeezing out very slowly. And the writing is better, I hope.  
  
Just for that one girl who prompted this public service anouncement, I will add extra long kiss scenes and passionate, passionate fluff that, because of its rather unnecessary nature, will be the BEST FLUFF EVER!!  
If, of course, Gohan ever sees Videl again... Bwa ha ha!  
  
Hint: I couldn't write the budokai and the buu saga, so I skipped them. Have you ever seen that episode of trigun where he shows up in rags after he fires his massive super-gun? That seems to have been the starting point.  
  
So Gohan has little memory and is rather burned out on the streets of... Tokyo! How will he get home? What mysteries will be revealed?  
  
-Sage7,  
John Tetsumano ^)^  
  
"It's the moment you've all been waiting for!!"  
-G gundam 


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